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[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted a summit meeting and other events with H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey, at the Prime Minister's Office.

First, the two leaders attended a ceremony by the guard of honor and then held a summit meeting. Following this, the two leaders held a joint press announcement.

Afterwards, the Prime Minister hosted a banquet at the Prime Minister's Official Residence and said the following in his address,

“Hoşgeldiniz (welcome). I welcome everyone today. Since Mrs. Erdoğan applauded, I assume you were able to understand my Turkish.

I apologize for keeping all of you waiting for such a long time. Our talks lasted somewhat longer than anticipated, and I hope that you will all understand that it was because we were having such a lively discussion.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Ertuğrul Frigate incident, the event that marked the beginning of the long-standing friendly relationship between Japan and Turkey. I am extremely pleased to be able to welcome President Erdoğan to Japan on this anniversary.

The Turkish scientist Dr. Aziz Sancar was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In addition, Japan recently saw the conferment of two more Nobel Prizes itself, and both of our countries are now celebrating these prizes. I hope that President Erdoğan and everyone else in attendance today will join me in commending the three winners from Japan and Turkey who were awarded Nobel Prizes this year.

The friendship between President Erdoğan and I is a very deep one that transcends our positions as national leaders. It exists because both of us keep our promises. In Buenos Aires in 2013, when Tokyo was selected to host the 2020 Olympic Games, as promised, President Erdoğan was the first one to congratulate me. That same year, in October, Turkey held the opening ceremony for the Marmaray underground railway. I had already visited Turkey that year, and I dare say that there is no other Prime Minister who has visited the same country twice in a single year, but as promised, I visited Turkey for that event. Because it is not just that President Erdoğan and I mutually keep our promises – the people of Turkey and Japan also keep their promises to each other. Our bonds and friendship today are the result of that history of promise keeping.

We have invited many leaders from a variety of fields to today’s banquet, including politics, the economy, and culture, who have all worked to support the invaluable friendship between our countries. It is thanks to all of your contributions that Japan and Turkey have such a wonderful friendship right now. I would like to once again express my sincere gratitude to you all.

Lastly, I would like to use this opportunity to make a presentation to President Erdoğan. In 1958, Prime Minister Adnan Menderes became the first Turkish Prime Minister to visit Japan. I have heard that President Erdoğan greatly respects Prime Minister Menderes. At the time of his visit, it was my grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, the then-Prime Minister of Japan, who welcomed him. And so to commemorate this visit by President Erdoğan and his wife, I would like to present them with a picture from that visit.

During the opening ceremony of the Marmaray Project, which I touched upon earlier, I stated that Turkey and Japan are the two wings that will make Asia soar. Hand-in-hand with President Erdoğan, I want to continue to spread the two wings formed by Japan and Turkey ever stronger and wider.

Teşekkür ederim (thank you).”