Turkey

It gives me great pleasure once again to address this body where we unite our goals and labours for a better and brighter future. I wish to wholeheartedly congratulate you, Sir our good friend the former Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Srgjan Kerim on your election to preside over this global forum. I would also like on this occasion to pay tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and to wish him success in his current position. Our world today needs, more than ever before, effective cooperation to find common solutions to our global problems, to replace desperation with hope, poverty with prosperity, injustice with justice and violence with peace around the world. The United Nations, created precisely for that mission, is the only international forum that can possibly, with our collective resolve, lead us to those objectives. The United Nations is also the source of international legitimacy for our actions to those ends. But, it is incumbent on us, the Member States, to make the Organization stronger and more effective and to furnish it with the means and structures it needs to tackle competently the many challenges of our century. Here, I believe we need to be more resolute and bold in our actions while adopting more forthcoming and creative approaches. Although significant structural reforms have been realized, the process is far from completed. The reform process must continue, and structural and functional adjustments should be made to respond to needs that may arise. We must bear in mind that reforming the Security Council in a way that would command the widest possible consensus would also reflect positively on the legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness of the United Nations itself. I wish on this occasion also to confirm Turkey’s candidature for a seat on the Security Council at the elections to be held next year. My country, which is committed to the ideals enshrined in the Charter and which constructively contributes to the maintenance of global peace at a strategic crossroads where different continents and cultures meet, has not been represented on the Council for almost half a century. I genuinely believe that with the valuable support of its fellow Member States, Turkey, with its European and Asian identity, can assume a distinctive and constructive role in harmonizing and reconciling differing views within the Security Council, just as it does in its efforts to facilitate harmony among cultures. We have reached an important stage in the implementation phase of the Alliance of Civilizations initiative under the auspices of the Secretary-General; we are co-sponsoring this initiative together with Spain. We are determined to make our vision of global harmony become a reality through the implementation of concrete projects under the strong leadership of the High Representative, the former President of Portugal, Mr. Jorge Sampaio, and with the support that I am confident the international community will not deny this initiative. The meeting held at the United Nations with the Alliance Group of Friends earlier this week served to renew our hope and confidence in the promising future of the initiative. The vast majority of international problems of high priority on the agenda of the United Nations are taking place in our immediate surroundings, the scene of major tension and transformation. We are exerting every effort to constructively contribute to the resolution of all these disputes which directly impact Turkey, although we are not party to any of them. In doing so, we seek to utilize the many possibilities offered by our strategic position, our accumulated knowledge of and insight into the region, our cultural and historical ties and our vast experience in peacekeeping. Our highest priority is to restore stability in our region. In that connection, Turkey will resolutely pursue its efforts to serve as an important factor for peace and stability and to promote multidimensional relations with all its neighbours. The encouraging level we have achieved in our relations with Greece today as a result of the process of rapprochement that we have been pursuing for nearly 10 years is the tangible outcome of that resolve. Likewise, ensuring a dignified place within the international community for a territorially intact, nationally unified and democratic Iraq at peace with itself and with its neighbours is at the top of our priorities for restoring stability in our region. In line with our desire to realize this common vision, we continue to diversify our cooperation with the Iraqi Government and support the process of political dialogue and national reconciliation in this country. The group of neighbouring countries of Iraq, created upon Turkey’s initiative and later expanded at the meeting held in Sharm el-Sheikh to include the permanent five members of the Security Council and the Group of Eight, is similarly intended to serve such a purpose. The next ministerial meeting of the expanded group of neighbouring countries will be hosted by Turkey at the beginning of November this year. Another major source of instability in our region is the Middle East problem. We regard the question of Palestine, with wide repercussions both in and beyond the region, as the crux of all ills in the Middle East. The political rift within Palestine has further complicated the situation. Therefore, a lasting political solution to the question of Palestine and peace with Israel on the basis of a two-State solution will have important implications for regional as well as global stability. We believe that a negotiated settlement to this long-standing dispute will also reflect positively on the resolution of other problems in the region. We stand ready to support in every way possible the parties in the efforts to revive the peace process and to contribute to the prospective international meetings to be convened for this purpose. We hope to see the ongoing political crisis in Lebanon promptly overcome through dialogue among the different factions. We will continue our intense efforts, including our contributions to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, to assist in restoring stability in that country. We will also continue to invest in the democratic, free and prosperous future of the friendly people of Afghanistan. Our commitment to the security of the country by assuming the command of the International Security Assistance Force twice since its inception and currently of the Regional Command in Kabul, together with our contributions to the reconstruction effort through significant infrastructure projects, are the concrete expression of the challenging mission we have undertaken in Afghanistan. The activities of the Turkish Provincial Reconstruction Team in the province of Wardak, carrying out its functions under dangerous security conditions, are also part of this effort. Moreover, the process of tripartite summits that we have initiated, with the participation of Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the desire to enhance peace and stability in the region is helping to restore confidence between these two neighbouring countries. On the other hand, frozen conflicts pending a resolution continue to jeopardize regional peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Solutions to be found through peaceful means to existing frozen conflicts should be based on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and Georgia. In order to realize our vision of peace, stability and economic prosperity for the region, we not only seek to contribute to the resolution of these frozen conflicts, but at the same time continue to invest in the infrastructure of regional cooperation through significant energy and transportation projects, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum oil and natural gas pipelines and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad. At this juncture where uncertainty regarding the final status of Kosovo persists, we continue to maintain our view that we must mobilize all efforts to find a just and sustainable solution to this question. Turkey has currently assumed the command of the Kosovo Force Multinational Task Force South in the region. Turkey performs noble duties from the perspective of peacekeeping in almost all the regions cited above. Through its participation in various peacekeeping operations conducted under the banner of the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Turkey has proven its capacity to significantly contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security. In this connection Turkey is also favourably considering participation in the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, established in accordance with Security Council resolution 1769 (2007), whose adoption we highly welcomed. To the extent that we can stop and prevent the recurrence of conflicts that exhaust our energy and resources, we will be better able to focus on global problems that will define the common fate of humankind. At the top of these problems is the issue of climate change, which you, Mr. President, have in a very timely manner designated as the main theme of the General Assembly this year. We discussed this issue requiring urgent collective action in all its aspects during the high-level meeting that I also had the opportunity to attend earlier this week. The most conclusive outcome of this meeting was that we must all assume our fair share of responsibility in effective international cooperation to find solutions to global warming and climate change, which pose, as never before, a grave threat to humankind’s survival. Another grim reality in this context is that the developing world, bearing the least responsibility for climate change, will be the most adversely affected by its consequences. It is therefore incumbent on us all to assist, to the best of our ability, the developing countries in overcoming the many overwhelming challenges that they confront. To this end, Turkey is rapidly becoming a donor country with the significant development, technical and humanitarian assistance it has been providing in recent years. The development aid provided by Turkey through official and private sources reached 1.7 billion dollars last year. We intend to continue our contributions to the relevant United Nations funds, as well as assistance at the bilateral level. The Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries hosted by Turkey in Istanbul in July this summer is another concrete expression of our resolve to assist the developing countries and enable them to take full advantage of the benefits of globalization. We are already taking steps to follow up on the outcome of this conference. Our commitment to peace and development in Africa also finds expression in our development assistance to the continent coordinated through the branch offices of the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency, which have been established since 2005 in Ethiopia, Sudan and Senegal. The Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, which we will host in 2008, and our participation in seven different United Nations and European Union peacekeeping missions in Africa are other concrete examples to this effect. Turkey also seeks to diversify and expand its network of political and commercial cooperation with the countries of South Asia, the Far East and the Pacific region, as well as Latin American countries and the Caribbean. Terrorism continues to threaten the security of all free nations. An act of terror committed in any part of the world in essence targets us all, as it constitutes a heinous crime against humanity. We condemn in the strongest terms this scourge that recognizes no national boundaries. As the Prime Minister of a nation that has experienced first-hand the bitter consequences of terrorism, I renew from this rostrum my appeal to the international community for an enhanced collective commitment and cooperation in the combat against this threat to humanity. Considering the sophisticated new technologies terrorist elements are utilizing today, effective international cooperation to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction takes on a whole new meaning and urgency. Turkey strongly supports the United Nations and the United Nations-led efforts to intensify international cooperation aimed at preventing their proliferation. Finally, Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have been supporting the efforts to find a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem under the good-offices mission of the United Nations Secretary-General on the basis of well established United Nations parameters. The United Nations remains the sole forum for a solution. It should be recalled that the comprehensive settlement plan of the former United Nations Secretary-General emerged in 2004 as a result of extensive negotiations between the parties and was submitted to a simultaneous referendum on both sides of the island. The Turkish side overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Secretary-General's plan, whose impartiality cannot in any way be called into question. The Greek Cypriots, however, were misled by their leadership to reject the plan. Despite the constructive attitude displayed by the Turkish side since then, no progress has been achieved towards a settlement owing to the intransigence of the Greek Cypriot side. It is our hope that the Annan report, which has not been endorsed yet by the Security Council, will be endorsed soon.