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Turkey Says UN
Must Cooperate with Sri Lankan Army, PKK
Off-stage
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 11 -- New Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday said
the UN should “cooperate with the government of Sri Lanka because
we have to cooperate in all efforts against terrorism.” After a
weekend in which the UN acknowledges over 400 civilians were killed
in north Sri Lanka in the government's assault on the Tamil Tigers'
refuge, Inner City Press asked Minister Davutoglu, called by some
the “Turkish Kissinger,” if Sri Lanka should be put on the
Security Council agenda and if not, how the international community
should deal with the mounting crisis there.
“We have
discussed this,” Minister Davutoglu began. He had met, among
others, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at 3, and Ban
Ki-moon at 4. “With us, the humanitarian situation is very
important and should be improved. We support the UN Secretary
General's position and efforts in this sense. But at the same time,
it should all be within the rule of law,” meaning cooperation with
the government of Sri Lanka.
Inner City
Press followed up, would Turkey vote to put the situation in Sri
Lanka on the agenda of the Security Council? “We will see,”
Minister Davutoglu said, before turning to the question of Cyprus.
Turkey's fight
with the Kurdish PKK, just as Russia's Chechen experience, was the
elephant in the room or at the stakeout. Some said that the PKK are
among very few non-Tamil supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam.
Now-Minister Davutoglu, plight of civilians in
Security Council not shown
The LTTE's foreign policy, such as it is, seems to be making
or justifying the international community's (non) response to the
bloodbath on the beach in north Sri Lanka.
Earlier on
Monday, Inner City Press asked Austria's Ambassador to the UN what if
anything had been accomplished by the European Union ministers' near
secret meeting on Sri Lanka. The EU ministers believe it [Sri Lanka]
should be addressed by the Council, he said, adding that they are
still not sure how. It is getting late....
This is when, it was said more than once on Monday, UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon should be showing leadership.
On
Thursday
May 7, Inner City Press
asked Associate UUN Spokesperson Farhan Haq:
Inner
City Press: I wanted to ask about this invitation that’s been made
to the Secretary-General to visit Sri Lanka. First I wanted to ask
if on Monday when he met with the Ambassador of Japan, whether he was
briefed on a visit by Mr. [Yasushi] Akashi to Sri Lanka and was urged
by Japan that he should take this visit. And I also wanted to know
whether he would be in New York 11 May for the Middle East debate,
and 15 May to meet with the Chinese diplomats, that in fact this is
one reason that he is considering not going, as I have been told by
senior Secretariat staff.
Associate
Spokesperson Haq: Well, first of all, we don’t announce the trips
of the Secretary-General until they are close to occurring. And in
that regard, I don’t have anything to announce about a trip to Sri
Lanka at this stage. At the same time, as Michèle told you
yesterday, and is still true for today, if the Secretary-General
believes that visiting Sri Lanka can have an impact in terms of
saving lives there, he will certainly try to go. So he is
considering that. But part of what he is studying is what the impact
of a potential trip would be.
Inner
City Press: But if he had that belief, that would be without regard
to attending the 11 May Middle East thing or the 15 May meeting with
the Chinese diplomats? I am told that’s a major factor in his
planning.
Associate
Spokesperson: Scheduling is a separate issue. What we’re talking
about is the decision of whether or not to go. And certainly if he
can make a difference and can save civilian lives, which is what his
priority has been on this case, then he will go. At present, we
don’t have anything to announce at all in this regard, though.
Question: Just one last
one on that. I wanted to know, can you at least
confirm that he met with Ambassador Takasu on Monday in his office
inside the Security Council? Can you give a read-out of that meeting
and say why it wasn’t on his public schedule?
Associate
Spokesperson: I can confirm that he met with the Permanent
Representative of Japan. He did that, yes. It was in his office in
the Security Council. We don’t provide readouts of meetings with
ambassadors.
Question: And why wasn’t
it on the schedule?
Associate
Spokesperson: It came up all of a sudden when he had a bit of free
time in between other appointments on a fairly hectic day.
While
Ban Ki-moon is working on his issues as a trip to Manama, Bahrain,
after a news-less trip to Malta, the killing of civilians accelerates
in Sri Lanka. On Friday
May 8, Inner City Press asked Deputy
Spokesperson Okabe:
Inner
City Press: On the invitation by the Government of Sri Lanka to the
Secretary-General to visit, is there any progress in thinking? In
the alternative, is the Secretary-General, is he considering invoking
Article 99 or responsibility to protect or making some other move of
some type on the situation in Sri Lanka?
Deputy
Spokesperson: I have nothing beyond what we’ve been saying from
this podium this week on Sri Lanka, including what the
Secretary-General himself has said earlier this week.
What Ban said
did not involve calling for a cease-fire, did not respond to the
invitation to visit Sri Lanka, or the accelerating rate of civilians
death over the weekend, during which no statement issued about Sri
Lanka. Watch this site.
Channel
4 in the UK with allegations of rape and
disappearance
Click here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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