Turkish President Abdullah Gul stressed on Friday the need of taking decisive steps to resolve the Syrian crisis and said that cleaning up the chemical weapons in the Middle East was the only way to bring about lasting peace.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Friday that cleaning-up the chemical weapons in the Middle East was the only way to bring about lasting peace in the Middle East. Speaking at the 2nd Istanbul Forum on the Middle East organized by the Center for Strategic Communication (STRATIM) Gul said, “When the big issues come to the mind, cleaning up the chemical weapons is a very small step. But it could be the first step of big thoughts and could be encouraging.” But Turkish president warned that Syria crisis is a big regional and international issue that “could not be minimized to removal of chemical weapons”. Gul stressed the importance of taking decisive and immediate steps to resolve the ongoing crisis. Otherwise “If the crisis remain unsolved, the inescapable result will be radicalization in the country. As I’ve mentioned during my address at UN General Assembly, the way out of the Syria crisis is comprehensive, diplomatic and political solution.” Refering to the recent UN Security Council resolution, Gul stressed “We all need to support this process. Geneva conference is just a tactic. Time has been lost during this process. [But ] the mistakes should not be repeated and diplomatic equivocacy should be allowed in this process. If this happens, the process will lenghten day by day.” Last week UN Security Council had agreed on the concerted international action to disarm Syria of its chemical weapons. Since the crisis began in 2011, more than 100,000 people were killed in the country. According to UN figures, a further 1.7 million people have been forced to seek shelter in neighbouring countries.
Abdullah Gul also touched upon the developments in Egypt, whose military ousted democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.
He stated that Egypt was one of the most critical countries during the transformation process in the Middle East and North Africa saying, “Unfortunately the historic democracy trip has been suspended without running out 2 years. I believe Egyptian people will overcome this crisis with their historic background.”
“All the international community would be damaged from instabilty of Egypt and as Turkey I believe our long-standing friendship relations with Egypt are strong enough to iron out the differences,” Gul added.
Turkiye Newspaper
