BERLIN
Former Turkish President Abdullah Gul has said the European Union should act as a global actor and take more responsibility for refugees amid growing humanitarian crises in the Middle East and Africa.
“Millions are fleeing, endless human tragedies are unfolding in front of our eyes. That’s a shame for humanity,” Gul said in an interview published by the prestigious German daily, Sueddeutshe Zeitung, on Wednesday.
Gul said that Europe’s future was closely related to finding solutions to the devastating crises in its neighborhood.
“We often hear that the EU aspires be a global actor. Then it should also act as a global actor. Europeans can no longer claim or behave as if these crises do not concern them much,” he said.
Gul called on European countries to take more responsibility and accept more refugees.
“Europe should act now, in order to be stronger in the future. Otherwise Europe cannot stave off problems. As the recent refugee outflows show, sooner or later it will face these problems,” he said.
EU needs Turkey
Gul underlined the importance of Turkey’s EU membership for the 28-member bloc to address current challenges and expressed regret for the stagnation in accession talks.
“There have been deficits on both sides. But what I regret most is that the EU cannot see the strategic value of Turkey, [it] does not view it as a central partner. I believe that this is a big mistake. If Europe wants to be a global actor, then it needs a country like Turkey,” he said.
The former Turkish president said that Turkey’s EU membership would have a positive impact on Europe’s ties with the region and the Muslim world.
“An EU with a Muslim member state would reverberate across the world,” Gul said.
“It would be a strong message and a historical achievement at a time marked by crises,” he said.
“One has to adopt a more long-term, more strategic approach. Both in Ankara and in the EU,” he added.
Turkey started its EU membership talks in 2005 but could not achieve much progress since then mainly because of the Cyprus problem and the opposition of French and German governments.
Cooperation against Daesh
Asked about Western media’s criticism of Turkey for not taking strong measures against foreign fighters travelling to Syria, Gul said that these claims were uninformed allegations.
“Turkish security authorities are providing all help to their European partners, but they also need concrete information to stop the movement of these foreign fighters. Those who provide no information but criticize us are not talking honestly,” Gul said.
He also dismissed criticisms that Turkey had not provided help to the population in Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani last October, when Daesh attacked the town.
Gul underlined that Turkey had been a member of the international coalition against Daesh. “In order to prevent massacre in Kobani, there has been a lot of help from the Turkish side by all means,” he added.
