Turkey's president hails Global Refugee Forum

GENEVA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the Global Refugee Forum held in Geneva, Switzerland as a success Tuesday and looked forward to its results.

“It was successful work. I hope the results will be full of success,” Erdogan told reporters following the forum’s conclusion.

The two-day Global Refugee Forum, hosted by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), served as the main platform for state officials to monitor the UN’s 2018 Global Compact on Refugees initiative.

Erdogan presented the book Safe Harbour Turkey’s Call to the World: Cooperation for Refugees to his counterparts attending the forum and, in particular, to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the presidency's directorate of communications said on its website.

"The book elaborates on the migration waves received by Turkey regarded as a safe haven in the period before and after the proclamation of the Republic and stresses that Turkey has used all available means to support those in need affected by the tragedy in Syria.

“The book presents data and images about Turkey’s efforts for Syrian refugees in education, health, accommodation, employment, humanitarian aid and other fields from the past to present," it said.

Meanwhile, Fahrettin Altun, Turkey's communications director, took to Twitter following Erdogan’s remarks at the forum.

The world is confronted with an “unprecedented migration crisis,” Altun said.

“Only in the past 7 years, more than 20,000 people, most of them women and children, have lost their lives in the Mediterranean. The world must stop ignoring the bodies of human beings washing up on our shores!”

Noting Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees and is the country with the highest humanitarian aid per capita, Altun wrote: “No country should have the luxury to isolate itself from the migrant crisis of our time, this is a global and generational challenge.”

He called on the international community, saying: “Turkey keeping the refugees within its borders cannot be seen as the solution to this crisis.”

“The international community needs to find solutions that will keep refugees within their country and allow the return of refugees currently outside their home countries by creating safe zones.”

Erdogan headed to Malaysia to attend the Kuala Lumpur Summit at the invitation of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The summit, which will be held from Dec. 18-21, is a global platform for dialogue that will bring together Muslim leaders, intellectuals and scholars to produce solutions to problems faced by Muslims.

It will focus on issues such as development and sovereignty; integrity and good governance; culture and identity; justice and freedom; peace, security and defense; and technology and internet governance.