AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
Erdogan touched upon the Palestine issue in his speech, which he started by thanking Antonio Guterres. Referring to the refusal to grant a visa to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, which is officially recognized by most of the member countries, Erdoğan said, "Mr. Abbas's absence here hurts the conscience." Erdoğan said, "Although Mr. Abbas cannot be here in person, we will be the voice of the free and sovereign Palestinian state, just like last year, and we will continue to announce the struggle of the Palestinian people to the world from this podium." Erdoğan called on countries that have not yet recognized the Palestinian state to recognize Palestine.
Recalling the "ideals" of the United Nations when it was established, Erdoğan particularly touched upon the conflicts that have occurred in recent years. Referring to what happened in Gaza, Erdogan said, "In the last 3 years alone, 174 thousand of our brothers and sisters, mostly children and women, became victims of Israel's state terrorism in Gaza." Noting that people in Gaza are looking for the bodies of their loved ones under the rubble, Erdogan said, "Innocent children who lost their hands and feet in the Israeli attacks are trying to go to school and hold on to life with prosthetics made of wood." Erdoğan said that Gaza is the world's largest children's cemetery and the place where children are amputated the most.
Erdoğan continued his criticism of Israel, saying, "Even after the ceasefire reached with the efforts of President Trump and the contributions of the countries including us, the number of Gazans murdered has exceeded 1,500."
Erdoğan also criticized the UN: "Today, I will express some facts clearly, without putting a curtain between my heart and my words. No one should be sorry, no one should be offended or offended. This is not Tayyip Erdoğan's personal issue. This is a humanitarian issue. It is a matter of conscience for all of us. We are faced with a genocidal mentality that cannot get enough of killing. We are faced with an extremely dire picture. There is humanity in their hearts, mercy and compassion, fairness and conscience." No one can close their eyes to this picture. What this sight, which should shake us all, tells us is that the United Nations, which was established 81 years ago, has become incapable of fulfilling its duty, or rather, it continues to lose blood. Those who have pinned their hopes on the UN in Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and other crisis regions are in deep disappointment. But I would like to remind you that one day, everyone will have to take refuge in the common conscience of humanity. "We can live in comfort, away from conflict zones and crisis zones. But none of us know what will happen tomorrow, what will happen to us. That's why I find this year's general assembly theme, which focuses on restoring trust in the international system, very appropriate."
Saying that the trust in the United Nations must be improved, Erdoğan said: "What needs to be done for this is clear. Children in Gaza will be safe. When Palestinian children look at the sky, they will see kites floating freely, not warplanes. Children in Lebanon will not be woken up by the sound of bombs in the middle of the night. The sweat of Asian workers will not be exploited by wild capitalists. Our African brothers will look to their future with as much confidence and hope as the citizens of prosperous countries. Trust in the United Nations will only be restored in this way." "Let's face it, a structure in which the will of more than 190 countries depends on the whims of 5 countries is neither fair nor able to fully establish trust. The Security Council must be reformed with the principle that the world is bigger than 5," he said.
