Our region is surrounded by problems, Erdoğan says

TURKISTAN

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Turkey’s region is surrounded by problems and Ankara is striving to maintain peace and prosperity, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a visit to Kazakhstan on April 17.

Erdoğan cited the problems of “Crimean Tatars in Ukraine” and “deterioration and oppression in Syria,” speaking at the Ahmet Yesevi University in the Kazakh city of Turkistan.

“The Daesh terrorist organization continues to poison world of Islam. We are concerned about the future of Libya, which is de facto divided. The administration in Egypt, which took power after a coup, refuses to return to democracy and hurts the people through death sentences,” he said, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

Clashes in Yemen are increasing regional polarization, while regional tension also “rises due to Israeli politicians,” Erdoğan said, adding that “African countries face similar problems.”

As the world is in a process of rapid change and issues of common security and common future are becoming more complicated, an appropriate assessment of dynamics is needed, he said, adding that international actors should therefore “act together.”

Erdoğan called on for a “restructuring of international organizations” to make them more solution-oriented, with the U.N. first in line.

“How could the United Nations Security Council, which has been a mere spectator of the killing of more than 300,000 people in Syria, promise a secure future for billions of people in the world?” he asked.

Erdoğan also pledged support for Kazakhstan, adding that both countries had made considerable progress in bilateral relations over the course of 24 years.

President Erdoğan was in Kazakhstan for an official visit. On the trip he met his counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev and attended the second meeting of the Turkey-Kazakhstan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.