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Middle East and North Africa

Turkish Prime Minister laments lack of UN decision on Syria

"The UN ought to have been the most effective instrument for settling the problem but it kept silent," Erdogan pointed out

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

ANKARA, September 2 (Itar-Tass) - Turkey will support "any international initiative" on Syria in the event of lack of a UN Security Council's decision on that score, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Sunday.

Over the past two years and a half, Erdogan said, “over 100,000 people were killed in Syria and two million had to get relocated”. “Recently, there was also the use of chemical weapons in Damascus suburbs. The UN ought to have been the most effective instrument for settling the problem but it kept silent," Erdogan went on to say.

"If no effective decision on the part of the UN is forthcoming, we shall support any international initiative that will help stop the tragedy. If specific steps are not taken now, murders in Syria will be continued," the Turkish Head of Government said.

Erdogan stressed that he would actively raise the question of settling the situation in Syria during talks with the leaders of G20 countries at the summit in St. Petersburg on September 5-6.

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