OREANDA-NEWS. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan believes that modern Europe is deprived of a political leader. He expressed this point of view on Tuesday during a speech in Ankara.

"Modern Europe is in a crisis of leadership, and I don’t see a person among European politicians who can be called an exemplary European leader", Anadolu Ajansı quoted him as saying. According to Erdogan, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder used to be such a leader. Meanwhile, the Turkish president called the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani "a young and dynamic leader in the Persian Gulf", because he "always takes the side of the poor and helps countries in need".

Earlier, the Turkish leader said that Ankara will not stop exploration and offshore drilling off the coast of Cyprus and in the Cyprus exclusive economic zone. According to him, the rights of Turkish Cypriots to possess energy in the shelf are violated in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Turkish side “acts within the framework of international rights”.