Baku, Azerbaijan, May 23
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey is acting as a mediator in the settlement of armed conflicts, says the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He made the remarks speaking at the opening ceremony of the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, aired live by the TRT Haber news channel May 23.
Erdogan said international community should make efforts to resolve armed conflicts.
He also expressed hope that the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul will give an important momentum to the settlement of humanitarian problems.
Turkey is one of the countries actively helping Syrian refugees, added Erdogan.
"Turkey has spent $10 billion to upkeep the Syrian refugees, and there are three million Syrian refugees in the country," he said.
Erdogan added that at the same time international community has allocated $455 million for the Syrian refugees.
First World Humanitarian Summit is being held by an initiative of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with the organizational support of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The summit involves representatives of 177 countries, including 125 heads of state and governments.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili, President of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov, President of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, the 5th Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah IV Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Lebanon Tammam Salam, as well as leaders of other countries are taking part in the summit.
The purpose of the summit is to strengthen the international humanitarian system.
It is not a coincidence that Istanbul was chosen as a venue to host the summit, since Turkey received the largest number of refugees.
The summit will continue its work May 23-24.
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