Dear State Secretary Rummenie, Dear Mayor Nieuwenhuizen,

Director Thijsen, Deputy Commissioner
of Drenthe,

Chairpersons/Directors of
Associations, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and honour to join you today, on behalf of the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye and on my own behalf, at the National Tree Planting Day Ceremony. I congratulate the 125th
Anniversary of the foundation of Staatsbosbeheer. We celebrate many
achievements of the Forestry Commission and wish for its success for many
anniversaries to come.

One of these achievements has been its cooperation with my country following the devastating wildfires during the summer of 2021. The Dutch Embassy in Ankara and Honorary Consul in Marmaris
took the initiative to donate 10,000 trees for the Netherlands-Türkiye
Friendship Forest in Marmaris. They recently donated another 10,000 trees. Last
week, we had our own National Tree Planting Day in Türkiye and Staatsbosbeheer
joined these efforts under a nature restoration project called “Flourishing
Generations”. Nature binds us. These initiatives pave the way for new avenues
of cooperation on national parks, nature management and fighting forest fires.
To reciprocate, I will present and plant a Turkish tree today to this beautiful
forest to grow. Just as Türkiye'ssupport to the Netherlands after thedevastating floods of the past century and the Dutch support after the 2022earthquakes in Türkiye will never beforgotten, these forests and ourcooperation will live forever.

History also binds us. We enjoy deep rooted relations going back five centuries. Our relations are started as a
natural alliance against the Spanish Habsburgs, and our two nations never
fought a war against each other. This is a rare feature between any country in
Europe. And this year marks the 100th Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty
of Friendship between Türkiye and The Netherlands. The Netherlands was one of
the first seven countries to initiate diplomatic relations with our newly
established Republic of Türkiye.

This year also marks the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Workforce Agreement between our two
countries. Many of the Turkish guest workers who come to this land in the past
60 years, stayed in The Netherlands and formed the backbone of now half-a-million
strong Dutch Turkish community. They have become part and parcel of this
diverse Dutch society and constitute a strong bond between our two countries.
Their integration is a success story. Therefore, the future binds us. Two
countries sharecommon values and are staunch allies within the NATO. Our
economic relations have always been strong: The Netherlands is the biggest
foreign investor in Türkiye and the biggest foreign investment destination for
Turkish companies is theNetherlands.

Dear Guests,

We are going through a climate crisis. Global warming and its consequences threaten the very existence of
human species. Loss of biodiversity threatens our lives. Climate systems and
nature sustain life on Earth, so we can say: no climate no life! The Netherlands
is defined by water and nature, and today's ceremony is important not only to
raise awareness on the balance of nature but also a great way to make concrete
efforts possible for everyone.

Congratulating Staatsbosbeheer once again for its 125th year, I wish for many centenaries of friendship and
cooperation between our two countries!