Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said western countries lecturing others on human rights have failed the basic human rights exam. He told this on the sidelines of G20 summit in Japan on Saturday. He was referring to the global response to the Syrian refugee crisis.
Daily Sabah quoted Erdogan as saying, “Turkey has welcomed millions of people escaping the Syrian conflict since 2011, spending over $37 billion worth or resources for them. Syria’s neighbours, like us and Jordan, have been left alone to shoulder the burden of refugees. I urge the international community to share this burden so that we can maintain our assistance and help to refugees.”
He added that the developed Western countries who lecture others about human rights had failed as humanitarians in the Syrian conflict.
Referring to Aylan Kurdi — the three-year-old Syrian toddler, who drowned on the coast of Bodrum in 2015 while trying to cross to Europe, Erdogan said, “As long as conscience and empathy-based policies are not preferred over prejudices against refugees, more toddlers will die at sea.”