Turkey: PM Set to Visit Somalia
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
on Wednesday announced plans to visit
drought-hit Somalia with his family,
slamming developed countries for
benefitting from Africa’s natural
resources while remaining indifferent
to the continent’s struggles. “Every day
hundreds of our African brothers are
dying. Where is the world, the
developed countries? Do they extend
their hands?” Erdoğan asked his party
fellows at a meeting in Ankara.
Accusing some countries that have
“plundered for centuries and made
these regions bloody hostages of
dictatorial regimes for their own
interests” of just watching the famine
disaster from the sidelines, Erdoğan
asked when the international
community would help Africa if they
did not do it now.
“If they don’t take upon the burden of
conscience in the world, then which
civilization, which universal values can
they talk about?” he asked.
Emphasizing that Turkey is carrying out
an ongoing campaign to aid the hungry
in Somalia, Erdoğan said he and
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu,
along with their families, would soon
pay a visit to the stricken country.
Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate
has collected 31 million Turkish Liras to
help Africans suffering from hunger,
Director Mehmet Görmez told the
Anatolia news agency Wednesday.
Noting that all members of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or
OIC, would convene in Istanbul on Aug.
17, Gormez said they would ask for the
cooperation of Islamic countries to help
Africa.
Source: Turkish Weekly
