ANKARA
Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said on Thursday that international community was just watching the incidents in Syria like watching a match from stands.
There is a humanity tragedy in Syria, and tens of people are being killed everyday, while hundreds of thousands of people were displaced, added Cicek who spoke at Turkey-EU joint parliamentary committee meeting in Ankara.
Humanity saw such a tragedy once in Bosnia, and it was not solved until 250,000 people were killed, he said.
I hope such a high death toll would not be necessary to start to exert efforts for a solution in Syria, Cicek added.
We have to cooperate against terror
Cicek on Thursday said, "Terrorist organization kills our children with bullets and yours with illicit drugs. As much as focusing on condolences, we should also focus on taking measures."
Speaking at the opening ceremony of Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission, Cicek stated that all efforts and reforms of Turkey in regards to the EU accession process took place in the terror environment.
Underlining that people's lives were in distress due to terror, Cicek said that Turkey was faced with a humanity calamity and had been struggling with it for a long time.
"If you are not aboard the same boat it is hard to understand the difficulty of conducting reforms in an environment where terror is present. Therefore, for some countries it might not be easy to comprehend the reforms put in place by Turkey," Cicek added.
Cicek said, "An organization kills over 30,000 people from 1984 onwards and the date it is accepted as a terrorist organization by the EU countries is 2002. Was this 'organization' a think-tank or a charity organization until then? 30,000 people are killed and it is not considered a terrorist organization. What changed since 2002, since it was accepted as a terrorist organization? What is the positive contribution made? Terrorist organization kills our children with bullets and yours with drugs. If the matter is death at the end, we have to cooperate to protect the lives of our people."
Cicek also stated that Turkey would continue to correct its deficiencies in regards to democracy not for the sake of the EU but for its people and said, "Turkey is a country with self-confidence. We believe in ourself and our democracy."
