President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for the swift completion of Rize City Hospital on Sept. 11, saying the 1,053-bed facility was 70 percent complete.
“I have instructed my health minister to ensure the remaining work is finished quickly,” Erdoğan said at a ceremony inaugurating public projects in the Black Sea province.
He said the 50-bed Çayeli State Hospital would begin receiving patients in November, putting the combined value of the two hospital projects at more than 25 billion Turkish liras.
Construction of a 25-bed state hospital in Fındıklı would also begin in the coming period.
The ceremony marked the opening of 26 projects worth about 10 billion liras and the groundbreaking for three new investments.
Projects inaugurated included public housing, parks, a student dormitory and Rize Culture Street, which Erdoğan said would support local producers and sales of handmade goods.
The president said the Housing Development Administration had completed 5,636 homes in the province, with another 1,221 under construction.
Strengthening work had also been completed at 10 schools.
Erdoğan said his government was focused on providing services and investment across all 81 provinces and would not become involved in the opposition’s internal disputes.
Later, at a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Rize, Erdoğan pledged to continue the government’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative despite what he described as provocations and obstruction.
“We will continue patiently on our path, without yielding or falling into traps,” he said.
Citing broad parliamentary support for the process, Erdoğan criticized efforts to turn it into a partisan dispute and urged politicians to act responsibly.
“Playing politics over the blood of our martyrs and the sacrifices of our veterans is profoundly unconscionable,” he said.
