WASHINGTON
Turkey's Ambassador in Washington Namik Tan has said that the international community's not taking steps on Syria issue was not right.
He also asked whether the international community was waiting for a new Srebrenica in Syria, and he called on international community and UN to lead the steps that should be taken.
Speaking at an event on the releasing of a joint report on "Turkish-U.S. Relations" by Turkish Foreign Ministry, Center for Strategic Research (SAM) and Washington based think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Tan stated that Syria crisis was an issue between Syria and the international community, rather than Syria and Turkey. He added that leaving all the burden to Turkey on coping with the issue was not right.
Saying that 120,000 Syrian refugees were being hosted in Turkey, Tan added that most of the international community members were not interested in extending a helping hand to the refugees and most of them were not in the area to help.
Tan said Turkey was glad with NATO's latest statements on protecting Turkey when needed, but, added that Turkey was expecting NATO to assess the issue more seriously.
He said Turkey was cooperating with U.S. on Syria issue.
Ambassador Tan underlined that Turkey was not supporting the idea of a military action in Syria and stated that the longer the issue dragged, the more complex it would be.
