TURKEY: Turkish, Dutch and Japanese foreign ministers ask UNSC for action, show commitment to Annan plan

Record ID: 280983

  • Title: TURKEY: Turkish, Dutch and Japanese foreign ministers ask UNSC for action, show commitment to Annan plan
  • Date: 17th June 2012
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JUNE 16, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE DELEGATES LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, AHMET DAVUTOGLU SAYING: "The security of the observers is a very important concern for us. Immediately, the UN security council, considering this issue, must handle the case, and maintain the presence of UN in the field with more author
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Reuters ID: LVAAP4YQ5U7L887J6PFLGXD4IWRH
  • Story Text: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Un Security Council should immediately take new measures to stop the tragedy in Syria after United Nations observers suspended operations in the country on Saturday (June 16) in response to escalating violence which threatens to kill off a tattered peace plan brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan.
    "As soon as the observers are withdrawn, the UN security council must immediately consider this issue, not allowing the extenstion of this human tragedy, and take new measures. We are worried humanitarian-wise about the refugee flow to Turkey," Davutoglu told a news conference following a non-proliferation conference in Istanbul.
    Other ministers attenidng the event threw their support behind the Annan plan but agreed action should be taken.
    "Kofi Annan is actually we could nearly say our negotiator on a world scale of last resort. If he can not make it, nobody will make it. So for us, the Annan plan, as long as Kofi Annan is adhering to his own plan and he does, we are fully in support of him," said Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal.
    "The Annan plan is the only plan that we have got and we have got to make it work. We've got to make it stick. And we need that ceasefire, we need a ceasefire that means both sides primarily the side that has state power, stop the guns. We need the heavy weaponary, the tanks, the artillery pulled out of the populated areas," agreed Australian foreign minister Bob Carr.
    Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba also voiced support for Annan plan.
    "I think the situation in Syria is indeed very serious. Japan supports the Annan proposal, the Annan plan. The most important point is that UNSC will have consulted an opinion on this issue," Gemba said.
    The five veto-wielding Security Council members are expected to have discussions on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Mexico, which starts on Monday, aimed at breaking deadlock on the issue of international sanctions against Syria.
    Many hundreds of people, including civilians, rebels and government forces, have been killed in the two months since Annan's ceasefire deal was supposed to come into effect.
    But the violence has increased sharply this month, with rebels formally abandoning any commitment to Annan's ceasefire and government forces using attack helicopters and artillery to pound opposition strongholds into submission.
    The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed 10,000 people in a crackdown on protest against Assad's rule which broke out in March last year, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world which have toppled four autocratic leaders.
    Syrian authorities blame the violence on foreign-backed Islamists who they say have killed at least 2,600 police and soldiers.
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