We won’t intervene in Syria politics: Turkish PM

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Turkey’s aim is not to intervene in Syria’s internal affairs, but a fire in Syria would affect the entire region so Turkey is making the necessary warnings.

“Turkey’s attitude regarding Syria is clear. Our concern is never, never to intervene in Syria’s domestic affairs. However, we know that a fire in Syria would engulf the whole region, and therefore we make our warnings and we draw the attention of world public opinion toward this kind of massive fire,” Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan was delivering a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum, more than three years after he stormed off the stage in Davos, Switzerland during a debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Erdoğan said tens of thousands of Syrian refugees had fled Lebanon and Jordan because of the crisis in Syria.

Consciences must be globalized too: PM

“There are 24,000 Syrian people living as refugees in Turkey right now. So this problem does not stay inside Syrian borders; it has an impact on the whole region.” Erdoğan said that in a globalized world, each and every country’s issues were also globalized. “Human values, democracy and human rights and freedoms also have to be globalized while the world is becoming globalized. Consciences must be globalized while the world is turning into a global village.” He also touched on the Palestinian issue, saying that Palestinians were being kept in “the largest open-air prison in the world.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas followed Erdoğan on the podium, giving a speech critical of Israel.