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up to my office. So, demands of the citizens are tracked by various
organizations.
Turkish Ombudsman Institution is an independent structure with
expertise and is a step made forward.
Likewise, right to individual recourse vis-à-vis the Constitutional Court
took its place in the system as an outcome of the efforts to seek
someone’s rights in the judicial system.
The amendments made to the fundamental laws serve this purpose.
While Turkey performed a historic transformation in democracy and
development, it took a determined position on the basis of principles
in a humane way regarding the regional and global challenges. In
order to realize a much more flourished democracy, we needed these
and with this end, we made these steps and keep up the good work.
Our attitude towards the refugee challenges is a token of that.

Today, 28 EU Member States have accepted around 400,000 refugee
applications or said `yes` to them when they ended up at their gates,
we as Turkey have been hosting more than 2 million people from Irak
and Syria since 2011 when they were in panic. Furthermore, on top
of the refugee challenges, Turkey has been countering terrorism. We
pursue an “open door” policy, not shutting down our borders and
not watching the refugees drowning in the Mediterranean or the
Aegean Sea. We know that these people ending up at our borders
do not come arbitrarily or do not pose any threat. They come here
to save their lives and their future. Nonetheless, when we look at the
western countries, some of them say “they should not allow for an
influx that would damage their Christian roots but let’s only accept the
Christian refugees and exclude the rest”. Seeing such an attitude is not
acceptable at a time when all creeds are deemed global phenomena.
We look at people from a humane perspective, not judging them by
their creeds and we shall not. Are they victims? Are they victimized? We
always open our door to them.

You see what has been going on now at Mescid-i Aksa in Jerusalem.
Unfortunately, actions of the Israeli soldiers and police that take place
in Mescid-i Aksa, deemed as sacred by three religions such as Islam,
Christianity and Judaism, are not acceptable at all. They broke in by
smashing its doors, throwing our holy book down, burnt its copies,

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