Turkish PM: We could never take sides with Assad
RİZE
DHA Photo
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once again lashed out at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Aug. 26, saying Turkey could never take sides with a person “who has gassed innocent civilians.”“We are experiencing an extraordinary case,” the prime minister told a rally of supporters in his hometown, the northeastern province of Rize, referring to atrocities in Syria and Egypt.
“More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria. Where is the international community? Where is the U.N. Security Council? No sound from them. When we talked, then they say what is to you? Why do you talk? I speak on behalf of my people … You told us to go forward to alleviate the sufferings of the Syrian people, and we are going forward,” Erdoğan said.
“So do we stand by the murderer al-Assad and his supporters? We believe that giving consent to the killing of one person means giving consent to the killing of all of humanity. Consequently, we couldn’t allow that,” he said, adding that the total amount Turkey has spent on Syrian refugees is $2 billion and that the country was now hosting 500,000 Syrian refugees on Turkish soil.
Turkish parliament speaker calls for joint stance on Syria and Egypt
ANKARA
Turkish parliament speaker Cemil Çiçek will send letters to foreign parliaments and parliamentary assemblies to call on their governments for a “joint act and for being sensitive” to end the bloodshed in Syria and for an imminent democratic transition in Egypt.
The letters will appeal to parliaments to put these issues on their agenda and prompt their governments to take action, he said yesterday speaking at a press conference at the parliament.
Çiçek cited the recent attack with chemical agents in Syria that killed hundreds of civilian people and called on the international community “to act in one voice, which is a responsibility of conscience.”
Çiçek cited that use of chemical agents were “crime against humanity and parties remaining silent to this crime would motivate for further crimes,” he noted.
He called on the U.N. Security Council “to take responsibility” on the issue.
The international community should act in single voice in order to end Syrian regime’s “inhuman implementations,” but they have failed to take a concrete or deterrent step so far, the parliament speaker said.
If the political process in Egypt is to be comprehensive, then ousted President Mohamed Morsi and other political detainees should be released, Çiçek said. “Sincere steps should be taken and political arrests should end,” he added.
The parliamentary human rights commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) asked Egyptian authorities for permission to investigate human rights violation claims in the country, but was refused, Çiçek said.
The parliament speaker will send letters to parliaments of the U.S., EU, members of the Council of Europe and parliament assemblies which Turkey is a member of.