Turkey's UN envoy criticizes Security Council over Syria inaction

WASHINGTON

Turkey's UN ambassador on Monday slammed the Security Council for its inaction on war-torn Syria, saying more should be done than just tweeting resolutions.

Speaking to the council, Feridun Sinirlioglu said that on Saturday, the International Day of Migration, "our Twitter timelines were flooded" with hashtags marking the day.

"In Turkey, every day is a day of migration," said Sinirlioglu. "A hashtag is all well and good, but a home is better. I fear that history will define this Council, as the hashtag generation."

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters with unexpected brutality. Currently, Turkey hosts around 4 million Syrian refugees who fled their homes in search of safety.

"Tens of thousands of Syrian children have taken their first breaths, and their first steps, in Turkey," said the Turkish envoy.

He also said the Security Council meets each month, but "we speak. We tweet. We leave and we return the following month."

"I remind you that we are the last chance for the people of Syria. Is this the best we can come up with? Perhaps, instead of Tweeting our New Year’s Resolutions, we can actually do something to save the Syrian people," he added.

Over 350,000 people have been killed in 10 years of war in Syria, according to the UN, which it says is "certainly an under-count."

According to the UN Refugee Agency, some 6.6 million Syrians have been forced to leave the country over the past decade.

*Betul Yuruk in New York contributed to the story