President Erdoğan to call for joint global stance against terror at UN meet

Serkan Demirtaş - ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will call on world leaders to pursue a joint stance in the fight against terror without distinguishing between terror groups and to act in solidarity in addressing growing refugee problems during his meetings at the United Nations General Assembly. 

“Our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will attend the 71st U.N. General Assembly meetings to be held in New York between Sept. 19 and 22,” his office said in a written statement over the weekend. The Turkish delegation under Erdoğan’s leadership will depart to New York from Istanbul early Sept. 19. 

The official kick-off of the U.N. General Assembly will take place on Sept. 20 as the main theme will be “The Sustainable Development Goals: A Universal Push to Transform our World.” Erdoğan will attend the meeting on the occasion of the first anniversary of the launch of the sustainable development goals and the approval of the Development Agenda for 2030. 

He will later attend the opening of the General Assembly and will then address the world leaders from the U.N. podium on Sept. 20. Erdoğan is expected to urge world leaders about the need to adopt a common stand against terrorism regardless of where they come from and to inform about the failed coup attempt on July 15. Ongoing turmoil in Syria and Turkey’s recent offensive into northern Syria to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will also be on his agenda. 

Leaders’ summit on refugees

The president’s New York itinerary will include another very important meeting, according to the statement. Erdoğan will attend a special summit of leaders to be held under the leadership of United States President Barack Obama and co-hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, as well as leaders from Canada, Germany, Sweden, Ethiopia, Mexico and Jordan, where participants will discuss the growing problem of refugees in the world. 

Erdoğan is also expected to make a statement and inform world leaders about how Turkey has been coping with around 3 million refugees in its territories since the civil war broke in Syria. He will focus on Turkey’s active humanitarian diplomacy in responding to humanitarian crises in the world, read the statement.
 
Erdoğan will also participate to a reception to be given by Obama while holding bilateral meetings with some world leaders attending the General Assembly. On this occasion, Erdoğan is also planned to come together with U.S. business and investment circles, prominent representatives of Turkish and Muslim communities in the U.S. and to hold interviews with the world media.