Turkish FM Davutoğlu calls on UN to act on Syria after border clashes

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has called on UN to act on Syria after border clashes. AA photo

The Turkish government has reiterated its call for the international community to take urgent action concerning the crisis in Syria. The call comes after a man was killed and a 15-year-old boy seriously wounded by stray bullets shot from Syria into a Turkish border town, with Kurdish militants having expelled jihadists from the Syrian flashpoint frontier town of Ras al-Ayn and the nearby border crossing with Turkey.

“This is a striking picture that shows the extent to which the crisis in Syria can affect our citizens and us. We are calling on the international community once more, immediately and rapidly: If the U.N. Security Council is to fulfill the requirements of being the U.N. Security Council, then this is the moment. The time for saying ‘stop’ to this cruel massacre in Syria has already passed. Otherwise, the meaning of a lot of international organization missions, in particular of the U.N. Security Council, will disappear,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said late on July 17 at an iftar gathering with bureaucrats from his hometown Konya.

BDP urges gov’t to give up supporting al-Nusra

The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), meanwhile, has suggested that the government is providing support to al-Qaeda linked groups against the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

 “The fact that assailants made up of gangs affiliated with the al-Nusra front are supported by government of Turkey is further increasing our concerns,” the BDP said in a written statement.

“We would like to note that the policies of the AKP [Justice and Development Party] government, which completely contrast with the continuing democratic resolution process, are both paving the way for an increase in distrust and provocations,” the statement added.

While suggesting that the operations are causing a reaction not only among Kurds in Rojava, but also those in Turkey, Iraq and Iran, the BDP urged the AKP to move beyond its current position, which it said would lead to instability in the region.

Clashes between People’s Defense Units (YPG), the militant wing of the PYD, and the al-Nusra Front have continued today in Ras al-Ayn. Municipal officials have asked citizens in Ceylanpınar not to leave their homes and stay away from windows. Safety measures have also been bolstered in the town.