President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the 11th annual international student gathering hosted by Turkey’s Federation of International Student Associations (UDEF) on Saturday.

UDEF is the biggest nongovernmental organization in Turkey that works with international students.
“Turkey opens not only its schools, but also its heart to international students. We host students from around the globe. Turkey currently hosts 115,000 international students. Our aim is to boost this to 350,000. In that way, we will be one of top five countries which hosts the most international students,” Erdoğan said.
“Unfortunately, Albania is plagued by FETÖ. Of course, we are amid negotiations. Sooner or later we will eradicate that group. The Maarif Foundation is making progress in terms of education especially in Africa but also in the Balkans,” he added.
The Maarif Foundation is a not-for-profit public body that runs schools outside Turkey. It has taken over schools around the world previously run by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), which was behind last year’s defeated coup in Turkey. In the year since it was founded, Maarif assumed control of 32 FETÖ-linked schools in Somalia, Guinea, Niger, Sudan and the Congo.
The president announced that international students must renew their residence permits will now be able to do so directly at their universities without going through immigration authorities. Erdoğan added that international students as well as graduates will be able to obtain work permits in Turkey.
"We want justice," says Erdoğan
Erdoğan also commented on the United Nations Security Council. He has frequently said that the “world is bigger than five,” referring to the Security Council’s permanent members.
“There is currently not a single Muslim country in the UN Security Council. How can this be? We want justice. The UN was established to actualize justice but does such an approach currently exist? No. We [Turkey] will continue to seek justice for humanity,” said Erdoğan.
Turkey to grow stronger
Erdoğan criticized France and said that Turkey would continue to grow. “France exploited Africa. Five million people were massacred in Algeria. The same thing was done in Libya,” Erdoğan said.
“You can see what France has done against Turkey recently. We [Turkey] will grow stronger whether you like it or not,” he added.
Relations between Ankara and Paris - already tense over differences on Syria - have been further strained after an open letter was published in France in which 300 people called for certain verses to be removed from the Quran.