Turkish President Gül calls on world to ‘walk the walk’ in Syria

ISTANBUL

President Gül (R) and Prime Minister Erdoğan have stepped up their criticism of the UN for its inability to prevent the further deterioration of the civil war in Syria. DAILY NEWS photo/ Selahattin SONMEZ

Underlining the severity of the Syrian civil war, President Abdullah Gül has said there are “no words left to say” over the conflict in the neighboring country, stressing that it is now time to take concrete steps.

“The brutal massacre of over 1,000 people with chemical weapons is a huge crime against humanity,” Gül said Aug. 23 in Istanbul, while making a veiled criticism of the United Nations Security Council for its failure to stop the bloodshed. In a similar criticism of the world body, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently suggested the formation of an alternative U.N.

“Those who committed these massacres will be remembered by a curse in history and they will be held to account before international law,” Gül said, while calling for U.N. experts to be granted immediate access to the site to investigate claims that an alleged gas attack near Damascus on Aug. 21 left over 1,000 people dead, a claim denied by the al-Assad regime.

Harrowing footage distributed by activists showing unconscious children, people foaming at the mouth, and doctors apparently giving them oxygen to help them breathe, has triggered revulsion around the world.

“There are no words left to say. It is time to take concrete steps. The cost of parrying these incidents by diplomatic maneuvers and tricks in the U.N. Security Council and extending over a period of time will be huge. It would destroy the U.N. system and conscience of humanity as well. Therefore, the time has come to take a very concrete step,” Gül said.