PM harshly criticizes UN, Israel on human rights

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.

Contributions from AA are included in this report.

/Hurriyet Daily News/