LONDON: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has derided the UN Security Council and urged the General Assembly to take more effective steps to combat an increasing range of interlocked international crises.
Addressing the assembly on Tuesday, he said while Turkey is committed to tackling the climate emergency, global conflict, poverty and world hunger, he expects support from the international community.
“The UN needs to be more effective, more responsible, and needs to invest more efforts in addressing these issues,” said Erdogan.
“This means it needs to be a more inclusive organization, it must become international and an expression of a collective will.
“The Security Council especially has to be more effective, and this moment must be a turning point for us all.
“The world is greater than five (permanent council members), and a fairer world is possible. We are committed to this fight, but we expect the world’s support behind us.”
Pointing to specific issues, Erdogan asked for help in bringing about an end to the conflict in Syria and safely repatriating the more than 4 million Syrian refugees hosted by Turkey, saying it has been developing housing units to achieve this.
To date, units capable of housing around 1 million refugees have been built in “safe zones” in agricultural parts of Syria, he added.
“We need international support for these plans to be completed. The refugee crisis cannot be solved by leaving them to demise,” he said.
“I believe that if the conflict in Syria is sustained, it will threaten not only the integrity of Syria but the region itself.”
