UN gave strength to the Syrian regime: Turkish PM

ISTANBUL

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks during an event organized in Istanbul on Sept. 1. AA photo

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan intensified his rhetoric against the United Nations on Sept. 1, saying that the current system had given strength to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

“The U.N.’s incapacity, far from stopping the deaths, has given strength to the [Syrian] regime and recompensed it for its massacre. As the whole world has shut its eyes to the ongoing human tragedy in Syria, unfortunately the U.N. has kept silent and watched this tragedy,” Erdoğan was quoted as saying by private broadcaster NTV during an event in Istanbul.

“The fact that the U.N. showed its incapacity after the use of chemical weapons [in Syria] without taking any steps has left a black stain on the history of humanity,” Erdoğan added.

The Turkish prime minister, however, stopped short of commenting on U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision on Aug. 31 to engage the Congress for a limited military action against Syria.

Erdoğan said the chemical attack on Aug. 21, which might be a turning point the conflict, should not be the only reason to intervene, stressing that the death toll had passed the 100,000 mark. “Hasn’t 100,000 deaths any importance for us? […] The U.N. has made us question its own existence during the whole conflict,” he said.

Erdoğan also gave his full support to a campaign named “the world is bigger than five,” launched against the U.N. Security Council system where five permanent members – the United States, Russia, Britain, China and France – have veto powers for any decision.

“Imprisoning the U.N. to what the five permanent members are going to say is anti-democratic. A decision taken under the conditions of the Second World War does not have to remain as such. Youth have started a campaign named the world is bigger than five. I support it,” he said. 

Ahead of Obama’s statements, Erdoğan had called for an intervention against Syria similar to the one against Kosovo in 1999. “It should be more than a hit-and-run but push the regime to the brink of collapsing,” Erdoğan had said during the Victory Day reception in Ankara on Aug. 30.