Turkey Blasts UN Security Council over Syria Inaction

The Turkish foreign minister blasted the United Nations Security Council on Friday for its stalemate over the Syrian civil war, saying the powerful UN body's inability to take action "becomes a tool in the hands of despots." Today`s Zaman reported.

Turkey has become home to 90,000 of the 300,000 refugees who have fled Syria in the 18 months of chaos that has raged since opposition groups rose up against the dictatorship of Bashar Assad. Activists say nearly 30,000 Syrians have been killed.

"Mercy shown to an oppressor is the most merciless act toward people under oppression," Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday in an address to the U.N. General Assembly. "And if not now, when are we supposed to act in unity? And if it is not the United Nations, who is to lead? If it is not us, then who will shoulder the responsibility to protect the innocent civilians?"


Egypt has asked Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran to work with Cairo to end the conflict. The Saudis have not so far participated.

Russia and China have blocked three council resolutions that could have led to sanctions on Syria.

Davutoglu said that expectations from the United Nations have failed over issues such as Palestine, Azerbaijan, Syria, Cyprus and Myanmar.

Davutoglu added that Turkey has expressed its strong support for the two-state solution in Palestine and adopted many decisions and resolutions, adding, "however, we still hope, one day, Palestine will be represented as an equal member in this Assembly."

The Turkish minister said that his country had underlined the need for a solution to Nagorno-Karabakh in accordance with the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, adding that there had been no single step towards resolution of this problem for the last two decades.

"Yet again, the Cyprus problem has remained unresolved for almost half a century. Nearly a decade has passed since the UN Settlement Plan of 2004, which was endorsed by the entire international community," Davutoglu said.

Davutoglu said terrorists continued to strike and take lives of innocent people but he said there have been no effective international response and adequate solidarity against the scourge of terrorism.

"Today, some states employ methods of state violence and brutal oppression with impunity that cost lives of the innocent citizens that they are obliged to protect. If we cannot regard the rights of a person in Syria, Palestine, Somalia, Afghanistan and Rakhine region and other places, as equal as of our own, how can we talk about freedom and justice?" Davutoglu asked.

"If fundamental human rights are forfeited for the sake of power politics, and become negotiable and even alienable in talks among a few nations in the UN Security Council, how are we to achieve universal human rights and security?" he said.

Saturday, 29 September 2012

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