putting someone else down, but can be enhanced by lifting somebody else up. they don't have to be defined in opposition to others, but rather by a belief in liberty and equality and justice and fairness. and the embrace of these principles as universal doesn't weaken my particular pride, my particular love for america -- it strengthens it. my belief that these ideals apply everywhere doesn't lessen my commitment to help those who look like me, or pray as i do, or pledge allegiance to my flag. but my faith in those principles does force me to expand my moral imagination and to recognize that i can best serve my own people, i can best look after my own daughters, by making sure that my actions seek what is

right for all people and all children, and your daughters and your sons. this is what i believe. that all of us can be co-workers with god. and our leadership, and our governments, and this united nations should reflect this irreducible truth. thank you very much. [applause] >> on behalf of the general assembly, i wish to thank the president of the united states for the statement just made. may i request representatives to remain seated while we greet the

president. afterwards, the meeting will stand suspended for five minutes before resuming to hear the next speaker. >> turkey's president was also at the u.n. this week where he addressed the failed military coup in july. the also talked about the situation in syria and the european union not fulfilling its promises to turkey over membership. [applause]

>> on behalf of the general assembly, i have the honor of welcoming to the united nations president of the republic of turkey and inviting him to address the assembly. thank you. >> listing was president, distinguished secretary general,

distant west has states and behalfes, i greet you on of my personal self, my country, and my nation. with the utmost respect. thepe the 71st session of u.n. general assembly will succeed in its purposes and lead to favorable results for all countries and nations. i would like to take this opportunity to congratulate his excellency, peter clemson, for taking over the presidency. and i think his excellency for his work during his presidency and wish him luck in his future endeavors as well. i also would like to thank his excellency ban ki-moon for his valuable contributions, as he will be leaving behind a 10-your generals u.n. secondary

which he served during a time of global challenges. within the first quarter of the 21st entry, mankind has reached the peak in achievements in science, technology, economic development, and health. however, this brilliant picture has also made disgraceful a very dark face. in syria, iraq, and many countries suffering in the grip of terrorism and war, all around the world, hundreds of thousands of children, women, young and elderly, get killed. refugees running away from death and tyranny and oppression unfortunately face degrading treatment in many european cities. continue organizations

their attacks and actions in the region. there is a big potential that the disputes in the caucasus may unfold into a full-fledged fight. many problems from yemen to ukraine are of particular urgency. and on the other side, people in many countries of the world struggle with hunger, academics -- epidemics, poverty, and illiteracy. this is a disgraceful picture damaging the human dignity and disturbing the human conscious. what is even more distressing is many of these crises and problems can easily be resolved. securityosperity, and of our future generations depend highly on the steps and measures that we shall take today. nighttime -- it is time to

show leadership in addressing these problems in a determined fashion. president,ed esteemed delegates, today, terrorist organizations can employ various methods. 15, we,ight of july turkey, were exposed to a militias coup attempt -- mal icious coup attempt by a terrorist organization. this terrorist organization murdered 241 citizens and injured 2194 people. our parliament, the presidential complex, and many units of our security organizations and law-enforcement were bombed by this terrorist organization using fighter jets.

thanks rolled over the streets as well as the people. helicopters and military vehicles opened fire on civilians. this coup attempt was successfully repelled by our , protecting heroically our democracy, government, freedoms, future, and constitutional order. that is why i take pride in my nation, as my nation defeated this heinous coup attempt by risking their lives. and for 29 days, they never abandoned the squares around the cities of turkey and remained on duty to protect our democracy. they threw their bodies in front of the tanks and they repelled this coup attempt. a shared -- they showed a very noble stance.

i stand before you today thanks to our nation's brave and noble stance. it should never be forgotten that the failed coup attempt was aimed at the global democracy as well. caught a historical tryon to those intending to to attempt and became a source of inspiration for all nations committed to the protection of democracy. this new generation of a terrorist organizations is a national security threat for turkey but all the 170 countries around the world where it is present. in other words, today the majority of the countries represented in this general assembly are currently under the threat of this clandestine structure. has terrorist organization

a motive of subduing the world far beyond turkey. the basic strategy of this terrorist organization is infiltrating state institutions, influencing the society, and dominating the economic resources under disguise of education, dialogue, tolerance, nongovernmental organizations, and best of intentions. from this podium, i would like to call upon all our friends to take the necessary measures against the terrorist organizations in their own countries for the future of their own people and their well-being. experiencent by the that if we do not fight against them now, tomorrow might be too late. on this occasion, i also would like to state that the turkish ors such as turkey used by this terrorist organization and all the other labels and persons associated

henceforth have no association with turkey whatsoever. mr. president, esteemed delegates, the humanitarian crisis in syria has reached its sixth year. people have 600,000 reportedly lost their lives. because of this war, 12 million people have had to leave their countries. 5 million of those found refuge in other countries. 2.7 million of those refugees are currently in my country. they were forced to leave behind their homes. those syrians were welcomed in our homes. we never asked why they ended up in turkey. our doors are wide open. we have not shot our doors in because they were fleeing bombs. they were fleeing fighter jets.

for these people, we had to assume our responsibilities and serve what was expected of us. the west may not. the rest of the world may not. but we will keep letting them and because we are human beings. and in the face of such atrocity, we are obliged to keep our doors open to all those fleeing tyranny and oppression. we have opened our doors. we keep our doors open. we will keep opening our doors in the future. international community have unfortunately remained in different to the suffering of people in conflict since. ournumbers we pronounce representative of the human being. syrian people are being exhausted in the grip of proxy wars which have been shaped by a

cool administration -- cool administration -- cruel administration and global and regional competition. the international community failed in humanitarian values. spent $12.5 we have billion for refugees, along with the n.g.o.'s the number reaches about $5 billion in total. received from the rest of the world might be the next question you have in your minds. received $525ions million in aid, nothing else. have we received anything from the e.u.? promises,ade certain but they were not capped unfortunately. they are allocated $178 million

to unicef. that is it. as turkey, we have not received any aid whatsoever in financial terms since the beginning of the conflict. claim this was a common question for the rest of the world. we have been establishing close contacts with international and global influential figures. the syrians are our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, and we could not remain silent in the face of such tragedy and carnage. we have never remained silent. we shall never remain silent. 2.7 million refugees are currently being housed in our country. 300,000 300,000 iraqis are currently living in turkey. we have opened our arms wide. the tent cities are container cities in turkey where we

accommodate these refugees. we will keep on providing all forms of support within our capabilities, primarily the eu and all the other organizations that have pledged financial support are expected to rise up to the occasion. and we expect them to keep their promises. similarly, the u.n., we expect them to keep their promises. i hope and pray that the 71st general assembly will convey this voice quite loudly to the rest of the world because the contribution of the international community shall not be confined to $525 million. what do you think? from this podium, i would like to call upon the rest of the world, and i would like to call out to all of my european friends who believe that syrian

refugees are a direct and a clear danger for them. the barbed wires and the high walls will never provide you with the safety and security that you seek out for. it's an effort in vain. the syrian refugees and their problems should be solved immediately and once and for all or else we will never be able to prevent the irregular migration, risks embedded within that problem. dear friends, we attach great significance to the protection of the territorial integrity and political unity of syria.

we have no expectations whatsoever with regards to the territory of syria. syria belongs to the syrian people. nobody should ever have any plans whatsoever about the syrian territory. starting with our support for the syrian opposition, the operation euphrates shield was initiated. it is obvious that with this operation the priority of the terrorist organization pkk or pyd is now fighting daesh. this operation or this offensive, if you will, has popped up the self-confidence of the moderate syrian opposition troops. even further than that, this development has encouraged the local forces in iraq who are eager to cleanse mosul of the terror of daesh. as you are probably aware, for a very long time now, i have

appealed for the establishment or the declaration of a safe zone along our border with syria. we have the longest border with syria. and from these borders, turkey is continuous under threat. we were very patient. we were very patient. however, on august 24th in the city of gaza right next to the syrian border a wedding party was attacked by a 14-year-old suicide bomber, a young boy, who was sent there by the daesh terrorists. after the blast, 56 people were killed and more than 100 civilians were injured. we were patient until that pinnacle moment and that was the actual time when we said enough is enough.

with the moderate opposition, we have initiated this offensive. we have wiped away, wiped out daesh, and we have extended our operations all the way to where daesh was repelled. the local inhabitants were resettled. the entire region was saved from becoming the belt of terrorism. instead it was converted into a belt of peace. the operations we're conducting today has the eventual goal of protecting this safe zone and make this zone actually a safe zone. the people were saved from the grip of terrorists, and they have the confidence to go back to their homes. the electricity and the water infrastructure will be rendered operational immediately. the turkish humanitarian

associations and all the other ngos have mobilized their capabilities to meet the needs of the local inhabitants. all the social facilities which can also be used by the local inhabitants will be constructed in the near future. in order for that to be possible, the safe zones officially made safe zones should also be declared as no-fly zones. and we have to have a very firm stance so that a no-fly zone will be possible for the protection and the security of the inhabitants of the region. unfortunately, the cease-fire to which we have invested heavily in efforts the realization has failed. a cease-fire is no longer possible. the syrian regime has not allowed assistance under the supervision of the united states to reach the people of aleppo who are in dire need.

they're attacking the humanitarian aid convoys. the regime is condemning people to famine and to suffering in the regime is condemning people to famine and to suffering in order to encourage them to surrender or die. the united nations and the security council should no longer tolerate the regime's policy. distinguished president, esteemed delegates, in iraq it is clear that it will not be easy to establish a political system which will effectively protect ethnic and sectarian diversity compromising the greatest underlying force of this country. within this context, the mosul operation should be conducted by taking into concentration the sensitivities of the people in

the region. otherwise a new humanitarian crisis will emerge leading to yet another influx of another million people to seek refuge in other countries. we cannot leave the iraqi people alone in this critical turn of tide where they need the international support more than ever. allowing the palestinian people to live in an independent palestine with east jerusalem as its capital based on two-state solution is an obligation of the international community towards the palestinian children, if not for anything else. especially israel should respect the sanctity of temple mount and put an end to the violations vis-a-vis its status. we'll try to benefit from our normalized relations with israel to facilitate the peace process and solve the economic and

humanitarian challenges that the palestinian brothers and sisters face. within this direction, we'll continue our efforts to send humanitarian assistance to gaza strip. this brings me to a very important point. the world humanitarian summit was held in the month of may in turkey for first time in history. we considered this summit an important opportunity to explore new ways of more effective crisis intervention around the world. i would like to be very clear in my remarks. in terms of providing support to the ldcs around the world, turkey, the u.k., and america rank amongst the top three. compared to humanitarian aid to gdp ratio turkey ranks number one around the world. and we are the only country that houses the most significant

number of refugees around the world, and we are doing everything within our capability to stop irregular migration. upon the initiative of turkey, the subject of syrian refugees was handled in the u.n. general assembly last year for the first time. similarly, migration and terrorism were incorporated within the g-20 agenda thanks to the efforts invested by turkey. we're in cooperation with the eu vis-a-vis the refugee crisis with an eventual goal of preventing deaths. we succeeded in reducing the number of irregular migration to 50, which previously reached 7,000 per day in october 2015. this shows that turkey has successfully fulfilled her commitments within the framework

of the refugee agreement with the eu. however, we regret that the promises made by the eu within the framework of the agreement of march 18th, 2016, have been forgotten and some artificial pretexts are being created on a continuous basis. and all we hear are excuses and nothing else. distinguished president, esteemed guests, the united nations security council should be reformed in order to render peacekeeping and peacemaking activities more effective. and we fully appreciate the steps taken forward by secretary general ban ki moon in that direction. in addition, it is obvious that unless the security council, which is the main instrument responsible for making international peace and security is reformed, these efforts will be in vain.

not fulfilling their full capacity. that's why we say that the world is greater than five. this is a fact that we remind the international community over and over again with every chance that we get. because in the aftermath of the first world war, the security council was formed. you cannot preserve the same structure under the circumstances of the modern times. you cannot condemn the fate of the rest of the world within the lips of these five countries represented on the security council. this is not a security council to have. a security council that does not represent the entire world can never serve to reestablish peace

and justice around the world. this is something that we need to revisit over and over again. three countries in europe, one country in asia, and one country, the united states, of course, five countries. what about the rest of the world? what about the other countries around the world? we put them aside. we ignore them. instead we claim that 20 countries should be within the security council. they'll all be permanent seat holders. on a rotational basis, every two years these countries can occupy these seats and all those countries will be represented on the security council in a rightful manner. this is the only way to establish fairness and justice once and for all. the representative nature of the security council should be established so that the security council will be much more

effective, much more justice and fair. in order for that to be possible, the general assembly has to reach the utmost consensus. please do not even consider remaining silent or else we can't achieve anything. we can't succeed in our policies. we have to stand behind the truth. we are the politicians. only through that way the world can achieve the level of justice that she yearns for. this is the only way to get democracy going. islamophobia is the alternative to racism and discrimination, and it is very important for a country with a vast majority of inhabitants as muslims. about a decade ago, we co-chaired the alliance civilizations which sought for finding permanent solutions to

such dangerous movements threatening our prosperity around the world. similarly, we are also glad that the interest for the peace initiative that we have pioneered with finland in 2010 under the roof of the u.n. has increased. the 2013 agenda for sustainable development that we have jointly created incorporates transformative goals for us all.3 agenda for sustainable development that we have jointly created incorporates transformative goals for us all.0 agenda for sustainable development that we have jointly created incorporates transformative goals for us all. turkey's official development assistance has reached $3.9 billion in 2015. and as i have previously mentioned, 0.54% of our gdp is

the ratio to humanitarian aid that we provide is beyond the average and help us approach the u.n. target, which is 0.7%. as turkey, we have surpassed our commitment to provide $200 million annually to the ldcs in 2011 and delivered more than $1.5 billion in a period of five years. distinguished friends, before concluding our remarks, i hope and pray that the 71 general assembly will be the beginning of a new age to relieve the pain and the suffering of the people around the world and it will help us change our world. i would like to greet you all on behalf of my personal self and behalf of my nation. may you all live in peace and prosperity. >> i wish to thank the president

of the republic of turkey for the statement he has just made. may i request representatives to remain seated while we greet the president. thank you. [no audio] >> more now from the u.n. with the vice president of afghanistan. >> i have great pleasure in welcoming the president of afghanistan. i invite him to address the general assembly.

>> distinguished president, distinguished secretary general, esteemed heads of states and governments, valuable delegates, i greet you on behalf of my personal self, my country, and my nation with the utmost respect. i want to thank his excellency, the u.n. secretary-general for a decade of his persistent efforts and wise leadership in the arena

of support of fundamental freedoms, the rule of law, and wish himll every success in his future endeavors. mr. president. the 21st century has brought with it an ever complex international arena. have lingered and exacerbated. ,enewed threats and challenges terrorism displayed -- displays threateningace men, all of humanity.

to ensure a word without conflict. we believe the u.n. remains the most important international audie for the promotion of global peace, security and prosperity and achieving a more stronger organization remains the priority for all of us in the way forward. role ined nations helping afghanistan transition into a democratic society is a clear example helping to create real change. assemblyto update the on the state of affairs in my country. the government of national unity

in afghanistan has had 10 -- two years since establishment. i would like to present our view under the leadership of his excellency, the elected president of afghanistan. based ont, -- national consensus, political figures inside and outside of the government are sharing ideas for strengthening the political system and the government of national unity and for implementation of reform within the framework of national interest. has inheritedion

, legacy of conflict oppression, and inequality. we believe democracy is the best solution as it provides the only foundation to ensure justice and enable social and political groups to be adequately represented. to this end, we have a modern institution that provides for this goal. and only its full implementation can ensure political stability in our society. our government has made considerable achievements in different areas over the past two years, including reducing maternal and child mortality, increasing access to education, improving basic freedoms, strengthening the

telecommunications and information sectors, improving the rule of law and preserving justice and human rights. internationally, our government has gained a proper status for proving to be a trustworthy partner to the many countries that are engaging afghanistan and have enlisted for security and stability of the country. we are sparing no effort in implementing our commitments towards reforms. our plan and systematic efforts are ongoing to eliminate corruption and strengthen good governance, judicial reforms, promote women's empowerment, ensure effective service delivery for our citizens, ensure accountability standard

at all levels of the government, institutionalize merit-based appointments of senior officials, as well as to secure transparency in government contracts with the establishment of the national procurement committee. in order to strengthen transparency of our future parliamentary presidential and district council elections, the process of consultations and technical and legal studies on reforming the electoral bodies and electoral laws has concluded, and initial steps towards electoral reforms will begin very soon. combating the threat of narcotics is another priority of

the national unity government. in this regard, we are cooperating closely with the u.n. odc and other international partners and will continue our joint efforts with the national action plan framework. at the warsaw nato summit last july, nato members and our other allies pledged to provide 1 billion u.s. dollars in support on an annual basis for the afghan national defense and security forces until the end of 2020. also the results of our mission which offer support in areas of training advisory and assistance to the afghan security forces was also extended beyond 2016. we extend a particular debt of gratitude to the united states of america for providing the

largest share of support. in less than two weeks time, afghanistan and our international partners will come together at the brussels conference to review and reach important decisions on the fullest scope of the joint partnership in the way forward. the national unity government will be presenting comprehensive update on the positive trajectory of our reform efforts conductod the basis of self-reliance. through mutual accountability framework, we look forward to our international partners to make new assistance on the basis of afghanistan peace and development framework. mr. president, despite these

achievements, continuation of the undeclared war against afghanistan, the need for security still remains a serious challenge for the government of national unity as our people are still subject to merciless attacks of terrorist groups. currently, more than ten terrorist groups were sent from outside afghanistan with the goal of creating obstacles for our state building efforts and preventing the establishment of peace and stability are fighting against us in afghanistan. one of their main objectives is to suppress democracy, freedom of speech and our free and independent media. that is why our journalists are subject to serious threats while reporting from the battlefields. and also during terrorist attacks. afghanistan requests the united nations to appoint a special representative for the safety of

journalists focused on the protecting all journalists, including those serving in afghanistan. over the past several months, terrorists, including taliban and daesh who continue to enjoy foreign support attacked the peaceful and civil demonstration of the enlightenment movement in kabul and killed tens of our educated youth and elite. they also attacked the university of afghanistan and other civilian facilities, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. based on existing evidence, these attacks were planned and organized from the other side of the line inside pakistani territory. this year, the taliban tried to take control of more areas in

the country, especially in kunduz and helmand provinces. as a result, hundreds of extremist militants of taliban and daesh, many of whom were foreign fighters, were killed or captured. we call on the international community to pay particular attention to the elimination of terrorist safe havens located outside of the country. we are -- to implement their international pledges in the fight against terrorism and to avoid a dual policy of making a distinction between good and bad terrorists which undermines the international order.

we ask all of you, what were the previous leaders of the taliban and al qaeda residing. and where were they killed. and this very moment, where are the leaders of the taliban and haqani network cloectlocated? from where and how are terrorists being trained, equipped and financed during a full-scale war? we have repeatedly asked our neighboring country pakistan to destroy the known terrorist safe havens, but we, unfortunately, have yet to witness any change in the situation. afghanistan has always desired peaceful relations with all countries of the region. however, the government of national unity reserves the right to do whatever is necessary for the defense and protection of our people. we have also kept open the doors of peace and negotiations for

those taliban elements and other groups who are willing to give up violence, return to peaceful life and adhere to our constitution. in this connection, a peace agreement is about to be signed between our government and the islamic party that will be an important step for progress in our peace process. we believe that the quad lateral coordination group composed of afghanistan, people's republic of china, pakistan and the united states can remain a useful platform to further peace efforts. so long as the government of pakistan acts in good faith to meet and fulfill its commitment within the parameters of the qcg's road map. mr.

president, despite our security challenges, afghanistan has always maintained a positive approach in regards to our relations with all regional countries. and islam icic world. we consider them to be our best partners and seek to strengthen our cultural, social and economic ties and to use our experience to promote peace and co-existence and present a moderate interpretation of islam. in this regard, we welcome the express readiness of the organization of the islamic cooperation and any islamic country to help promote the peace agenda in afghanistan. i want to add that islam as a religion, as a clear thought, culture, civilization and history on the one hand respects

human dignity, rights and freedoms and drives national sovereignty from the will of people. and on the other hand, is against any kind of injustice, exclusivism, hatred, radicalism and violence. those individuals and groups that resort to violence, terror and killing under any name are not acquainted with the spread of this humane religion and are using islam as a tool to achieve their evil goals. how can islam possibly give permission for terrorism and suicide attacks? to take lives of thousands of innocent people. who are clearly considered human as representative of god. in the holy versus of koran and considers the killing of one

innocent human equal to that of killing all of humanity. we expect of the prominent islamic scholars who will take part in a conference in mecca to further enlighten the true image of islam and declare their condemnation of terrorist and extremists on behalf of our great religion. mr. president, in order to achieve regional cooperation, we need to have a stable region. -- afghanistan's foreign policy is founded on the creation of an economy based society. afghanistan is an active member of the regional organization of sarc and echo and an observer member of the shanghai organization. it aims to actively take part in the revitalization of regional cooperation agenda within the

heart of asia, stumble and -- processes. afghanistan and all of the regional countries have common threats and common interests. we should come together and cooperate to fight against our common threats, including terrorism, radicalism, drugs, organized crimes, illegal immigration and smuggling. also, the establishment of the regional railroad, energy transit, mine extraction, trade and transit can provide an important joint economic cooperation for us. afghanistan is an important crossroad of trade, transit and economic activities can connect

the south asia with central asia and the middle east to the east and south asia. within china, iran, afghanistan and expansion of cooperation in the port of iran. with implementation of these projects afghanistan can reach to international markets and countries can also get better connected with respect to the principle of noninterference and other countries i'm holding use of force in resolution of conflicts, respected territorial integrity and national governty, exchange of knowledge and science and technology and most important of all we can prepare for economic growth of all countries of our region. request neighboring countries and in the region and the first

country to become the un country and member state and it's international commitments or in the last 16 years we have served as a point of emergence whereby the international community has come together in this connection i wish to also highlight and thank the un's role in facilitating a role for afghanistan stability and prosperity. during recent years we have

signed documents of long-term tra teejic cooperation with 20 of our allies including the us, eu and in a to and important conferences of london, chicago and warsaw and policies and decisions and like other members of the international community it's serious and decisive in fighting against radicalism and it's against this ominous phenomenon. it has been years since our nation is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and has made tremendous sacrifices in order to defend common values of humanity. we have lost many of our great national figures and hundreds of in peace officers and journalists and members.

however we believe that terrorism has become global threats against world peace. this is true when we witnessed science of radicalism and different forms in europe and america and incidents of terrorist attacks in many countries over the world. in this regard, and considering the extent of these threats, measures of the international community against tourism and radicalism will not be enough and successful millions the effective wholistic measures encompassing political, cultural, economic and even military aspects are considered

as a universal strategic need. the un should hold an international conference with the gain of introducing a new set up to combat terrorism. we believe serious efforts in the fight against terrorism and radicalism are in need of exact and thorough planning for at least 20 years and in this plan afghanistan should receive special attention from the international community as they are at the forefront of this fight. one of the ominous outcomes of violence and radicalism is the new wave of immigration last year that made it an important international challenge. we express gratitude to the countries that offer support

especially germany and other european countries that welcome african refugees with open arms. also reports the un and it's member states to have a new approach toward this international challenge and countries where immigrants are coming from to deal with the root causes and reasons of immigration. especially the ominous phenomenon. mr. president, a glimpse show that injustices, threats of violence and conflicts are still endangering millions of human lives throughout the world. we are witnessing the extent of terror in syria. we announced our full support to a comprehensive solution to the syrian conflict that will reflect the will of all syrians. we also have the conflict in yemen.

resolve the issue of palestine and the legitimate rights and pal state prisons including the right to have an independent government and invite all sides to start direct talks in order to achieve a sustainable solution and peace and peaceful co-existence. afghanistan supports the historic agreement would mean 5 plus one countries and the republic of iran in the nuclear program within the joint comprehensive man of action and peace and stability and development and program i should have that we believe are dangerous for the region and endanger war peace and security. mr.