Turkey a sure friend in unsure times, Erdoğan tells UN

ANKARA

The world should try to use the institutions and mechanisms it has for multilateral cooperation in the most effective way to overcome the hurdles created by the coronavirus pandemic, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, adding that Turkey has been playing its part in such efforts.

“Where problems are global, local solutions can only save the day. International solidarity is essential for long-term solutions,” Erdoğan said on Sept. 22 in a video message at the United Nations General Assembly.

Leaders have traveled to the U.N. headquarters in New York for their addresses, which were prerecorded. The assembly this year mainly focuses on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Turkey reached out to 146 countries and seven international organizations that requested medical equipment assistance, with the understanding that ‘A sure friend is known in unsure times,’” Erdoğan said.

“With the repatriation operations we carried out, we ensured the return of more than a hundred thousand of our citizens in 141 countries, to their homes. With the same flights, we carried more than 5,500 foreigners from sixty-seven countries to their homes,” added Erdoğan.

Turkey’s efforts were not part of a “coronavirus diplomacy,” he noted.

“We did not expect and still do not hope for any compensation from anyone for our aid and repatriation efforts,” Erdoğan said.

“Standing with the victims and the oppressed is in the veins of our nation and in the essence of our ‘Enterprising and Humanitarian Foreign Policy.’”

Erdoğan also congratulated ambassador Volkan Bozkır, who has taken over the Presidency of the General Assembly in his speech.

“Ambassador Bozkır’s election to this post with the support of the overwhelming majority of countries is a sign of his personal qualities as an experienced diplomat and politician, as well as confidence in Turkey.”

“As the first Turkish citizen to undertake the highest-ranking position within the United Nations system, I believe that Ambassador Bozkır will be the voice and conscience of the international community.”

He stressed that he had no doubts that he will carry out his duty in a fair and transparent manner.

About the conflict in Syria, he stressed, “Turkey hosts approximately 4 million Syrians on its own territory for years by addressing all their needs. We also meet the needs of approximately the same number of Syrians on-site, in the regions that we keep under control, especially in areas close to our border.”

“We expect a genuine cooperation from the international community and Iraq concerning the uprooting of PKK terrorist organization, which has been nested in Iraq, just as it has been the case for ISIL,” Erdoğan noted about the fight against terror.

Saying that “Turkey will not support any plan that the Palestinian people do not give consent to,” Erdoğan mentioned that “The dirty hand that reaches the privacy of Jerusalem, where the sacred places of the three great religions coexist, is constantly increasing its audacity.”

Underlining the support for Azerbaijani and the Turkish Cypriots, Erdoğan concluded his speech making a recall.

“Racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and hate speech have reached an alarming level.”