Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan UN General Assembly Speech 1 2

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday was full of criticism of Israel, deepening the rift between the two countries, and the United Nations.

In his speech, Erdoğan said Israel should lift the blockade on Palestine, adding a new item to the list of conditions for normalizing relations between Israel and Turkey. Ties between the two have been tense since nine Turkish citizens were killed in an Isreali commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship in May 2010.

Erdoğan also criticized the U.N., saying that it should renew its vision to protect all of humanity's human rights, rather than selectively protecting certain countries' rights.

The prime minister earlier demanded an apology from Israel and compensation for families. "It is impossible for us to remain indifferent to the killing of nine of our citizens in international waters," said Erdoğan. "Israel committed a great mistake against a friendly nation, Turkey. The primary source of tension is only the Israeli government."

In addition to repeating his criticism of Israel, Erdoğan blamed the U.N. for falling short on warning Israel of human rights issues. Erdoğan said Israel ignores the United Nations' authority. "It has failed to abide by 89 binding U.N. resolutions and has ignored hundreds of others. This is a blow to the sense of international justice," he said.

The prime minister called on the international community to "pressure Israel to show that they are not above the rule of law," as he blamed the U.N. for being incapable of taking any step to end Palestinian suffering. Erdoğan asked U.N. member states to recognize Palestine, which he said was initially established by the international body but never recognized.

"Why is the Security Council silent about Israel while implementing its resolutions on Sudan? Israel is the one that has a nuclear bomb, where are the sanctions? When they smell a nuclear weapon, they impose sanctions," said Erdoğan, referring to Iran.

Erdoğan said Palestinian territories are occupied, not Israeli lands. "You have to ask permission from Israel to bring a box of tomatoes into Palestine." He said Israeli leaders must realize that the real security for Israel is the advent of peace.

Erdoğan also described the urgent need for restructuring and help in Somalia, saying that he visited Somalia in person and that Turkey continues to supply aid to the country. Speaking of the gas and oil drilling efforts of Greek Cyprus, Erdoğan said Turkey and the Turkish side of the island would protect northern Cyprus' rights and would respond immediately to any attempt by the Greek side.

'Let's make Istanbul a UN center'

Erdoğan also requested from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Istanbul become a center of the U.N. in a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The prime minister also told Ban that Turkey desired to see the Turkish language as an official language of the U.N. Ban said this was an issue to be decided by member states. Erdoğan repeated Turkey's disappointment in the Palmer Report that was prepared as part of an investigation into the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara aid ship in May 2010. Erdoğan also met with his British counterpart, David Cameron, in New York for half an hour. The meeting was behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met on Thursday with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. They reportedly spoke about Palestine's initiative for U.N. recognition as a state and a member, the Cyprus issue and developments in the Middle East and Syria.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Syria
• Palestine
• Greek Cyprus
• Erdogan
• Turkey
• UN
• Speech
• New York
• Gaza
• Mavi Marmara

[PoorIllyrian]

FOR THIS U NEED TO HAVE BALLS !!!

GO TURKEY <3 albania with u !!

[Emiramina11]

Just goo ahead Erdogan. Bosnia is with you . Selam too all Turkish brothers.

[muzzymemo]

@electangorocks are yo fucking serious without nukes israel is nothing !

[KALXAWAAAJI]

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's don't give a shit about what Western or Israel think. he is not asslicker for US/ISRAEL like Arabs.

Real hero. Real Leader. may Allah bless ya. and your Beautiful country.

[KALXAWAAAJI]

God Bless Turkey . i love Turkey.

from Somalia <----

[asrafoo]

I hope you find peace with the kurd also. but i can't tell you not to speak out about israel palestine.

[mkay1500]

@Emiramina11 aleykum selam , too all brothers from bosnia

[utkusarioglu]

@themizaru he's talking about the reasons why somalia is left to starve and how un needs to be restructured to help countries in similar situation. and then he starts bragging about how turkish public alone raised 300 million dollars in two months, lobbied organizations and raised 350 million from them.and will serve the country with social services and constructions pro bono. then he goes on about values and other typical stuff all politicians say. lol and he doesn't forget bashing israel

[themizaru]

i can't hear the translator!! :(

[kingstanbul]

He is the Best. Kurds are lie! i think erdogan is a good men