Türkiye not compelled to choose between EU, SCO: Erdogan

'While strengthening our relations with East, we seek ways to advance our deep-rooted cooperation with West,' says Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Türkiye is not compelled to choose between the European Union and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, “as some claim," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. "While strengthening our relations with the East, we seek ways to advance our deep-rooted cooperation with the West," Erdogan said on Saturday at the Naval War College Commencement and Flag Handover Ceremony in Istanbul. Erdogan stressed that Türkiye will protect its rights in “Blue Homeland” till the end and will not allow the rights of Turkish Cypriots to be violated. "The fact that there are borders between us and the people with whom we lived together just a century ago does not mean that we will be separated from the geography of our hearts," he said.