The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) has played a great role in increasing Turkey's reputation in the world and building bridges with various foreign countries in line with the government's constructive foreign policy agenda, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

Speaking at a TUSKON summit on Saturday, Prime Minister Erdoğan said in every country he visits, he is almost certain to meet some very successful businessmen, adding that the leaders and most senior politicians of those countries talk of these businessmen highly and with praise. He said it was a great source of happiness for him to see the work created by Turkish businessmen in different parts of the world. "When they tell me, ‘This road was built by a Turkish company or that mall is owned by a Turkish businessman,' I feel an indescribably great sense of happiness and excitement. I would like to thank all businessmen who make us proud in this way."

The prime minister said businessmen had to face problems wherever they go in the world, noting that it was their primary duty to solve these problems. He said the capacity and efforts of Turkey's business people had brought Turkey up to 17th place from 26th in the ranking of worlds' biggest economies. He thanked Turkey's businessmen who helped make his possible. He noted that in the past two months, four international credit rating agencies had increased Turkey's ratings.

"These things are happening as a result of strategy, determined policy and courageous implementation. We started out believing in the greatness of Turkey. We believed in the hardworking quality of this nation, in the fertility of our soil, and we have achieved these results."

The prime minister also thanked TUSKON for its supportive stance on the government's "national unity project," a name for the AK Party's Kurdish initiative, a plan to extend cultural rights and freedoms of Kurdish citizens to end separatism.

He also highlighted the importance of TUSKON in making Turkey's name well-known globally, bringing together businessmen from the East and the West.

Armenian resolution won't harm Turkey

A US resolution that branded as "genocide" the World War I incidents cannot damage Turkey, Erdoğan said, expressing outrage at the non-binding vote in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives passed last week.

"The Foreign Affairs Committee's decision will not hurt Turkey, but it will greatly harm bilateral relations, interests and vision. Turkey will not be the one who loses," Erdoğan said. "We will not act based on grudges, ire and enmity. We will continue with a constructive stance that aims to win over hearts."