Turkish PM lashes out at ‘two-faced’ UN

ISTANBUL

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Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoğlu has lashed out at the United Nations after it demanded the country open its borders to tens of thousands of more Syrian refugees, accusing it of being “two-faced.”

“I see calls by several parties including the United Nations Security Council that do not move a finger to solve the crisis in Syria and that are not able to say ‘stop, that’s enough’ to Russian bombardments as two-faced,” he said in The Hague.

Dismissing calls on Turkey to open its borders to tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled the escalated violence in Aleppo, Davutoğlu underscored during a press conference with Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte that no third party had a bearing on Turkey’s decision to open its borders to tens of thousands amassing on the Turkish border.

“We did not ask any one before we let 2.6 million Syrians. While we provide around 60,000 Syrians with cross-border humanitarian aid, we’re not asking anyone do this,” said the Turkish premier, noting that Turkey could let the Syrians stuck on the Turkish border into the country, but keeping them in tent camps inside Syrian borders would be a top priority.

“The Turkish-Syrian border as well as our hearts and our home are all open to Syrians,” he added.

By taking in the refugees that have fled the city of Aleppo, Davutoğlu said Turkey would be indirectly contributing to what he termed as “ethnic cleansing.”

“One of the aims of the latest attacks is to conduct ethnic cleansing. Ethnic cleansing in Syria and Aleppo aimed at only leaving regime supporters behind is being conducted by the Syrian regime and Russia in a very deliberate way,” Reuters quoted Davutoğlu as saying. 

“Every refugee that we accept helps their ethnic cleansing policy but we will continue to accept [refugees],” said Davutoğlu.

He also said the Syrian and Russian military operations were an attempt to drive out people who do not support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.   

Davutoglu reiterated that Turkey planned to care for the new wave of refugees at camps on the Syrian side of the border.

The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, was scheduled to discuss on Feb. 10 the alarming humanitarian situation in Syria and the recent displacement of tens of thousands of people fleeing a Russia-backed assault around Aleppo, New Zealand’s U.N. envoy said on Feb. 9.