Turkey to continue to fight global injustice: Erdoğan

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks at the new presidential palace in Ankara. AA Photo

Ankara will continue to fight against global injustice and act on behalf of a humane conscience, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, vowing that critical voices standing against Turkey will not hold the country back.

“We will continue to have a humane conscience, be the voice of sufferers and stand against unlawfulness, injustice and oppression anywhere in the world. We will continue to highlight global injustice without paying attention to those who try to silence us and who organize smear campaigns against us,” Erdoğan said in a written message on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the adoption of U.N. Declaration of Universal Human Rights, celebrated as World Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.

While acknowledging that the declaration and its content are a "historic document" reminding the international community of its duties and responsibilities in protecting human rights and promoting freedoms, Erdoğan said there were still human rights violations in many corners of the world.

Citing Syria and Egypt as regimes that oppress their own people in front of the world’s eyes and Israel as a country that committed massacres against civilians in Gaza for 52 days, Erdoğan said, “While cruelty is left unpunished, the cries of the sufferers are unheard.”

The president accused some political parties of exploiting economic and social crisis to fuel racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. “Even in many developed countries, including Europe, discrimination and alienation are observed against those who have a different language, religion, race and culture,” he said.

Erdoğan did not touch on allegations of rights violations in many areas of the country under his administration.