Turkey never has hesitations regarding humanitarian aid to Afghanistan: Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

Turkey never hesitates in providing humanitarian support to Afghanistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sept. 19, noting that this aid would be provided both by the state and civil society.

“There will show no hesitation in humanitarian aid. We will send such aids both as the state and with our NGOs,” he said at a news conference before departing for New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Elaborating his program in the U.S., Erdoğan said he will address the assembly on Sept.21.

“In my speech, I will emphasize Turkey’s strong support for multilateralism and the goal of establishing a fairer world order. I will share our views on the main issues on the agenda of the United Nations. I will express our approach to the challenges that threaten all of humanity,” he stated.

Erdoğan said that this year’s General Assembly was held with the theme “Overcoming the COVID-19 Pandemic, Rebuilding Sustainability, Responding to the Needs of the Planet, Respecting Human Rights and Establishing Resilience Through Hope for the Revival of the United Nations.”

“Issues of health, climate, and sustainable development, to which we attach great importance and play a leading role, are heavily on the agenda of the plenary discussions,” he said.

He recalled that some of the events within the scope of the General Assembly will be online and said he would participate in the U.N. Food Systems Summit and the U.N. High-Level Energy Dialogue Meeting with a video message.

Adding that that at the meeting Turkey will give “a message about migrants,” Erdoğan said. “We are the ones who bear the biggest burden of this.”

Erdoğan noted that he would have bilateral meetings with the U.N. Secretary-General as well as with many heads of states and governments.

Erdoğan to meet Greek PM Mitsotakis

The president also said he would meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Regarding Mitsotakis’ recent remarks on the refugee issue, Erdoğan said: “We need to see the steps to be taken by the other sides. If we don’t see this, we will take the necessary decision and take steps accordingly.”

“Turkey is nobody’s doorman on this,” he added, echoing earlier comments that Turkey cannot be expected to take in a new wave of migrants.

Mitsotakis told reporters on Sept. 18 that he thinks he and Erdoğan “agree” that “it is important to keep potential refugees and asylum seekers as close to their home country as possible.”

The president will also inaugurate the Turkish House (Türkevi) in New York which will host diplomatic representations of Turkey and Turkish Cyprus.

He will meet with citizens, compatriots and representatives of the American Muslim community at the conference titled “A Fairer World Is Possible” to be organized by the Turkish-American National Steering Committee (TASK), Erdoğan added.

On the same day, he will meet with American academic circles at the event to be jointly organized by the Foreign Policy Association of American think-tanks and SETA DC, and that he will also hold meetings and interviews with some press representatives in the U.S., the president said.

Noting that he will also have meetings with representatives of the Turkish and American business world, Erdoğan said he will attend the 11th Turkey Investment Conference to be organized by the Turkish-American Business Council.