On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu attended the meeting of the Group of Friends of the Syrian People held in New York upon the invitation of France.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu thanked France for calling the meeting and stated that the Syrian regime lost its legitimacy and committed a crime against humanity using chemical weapons against its own people on August 21, 2013. Foreign Minister underlined that while Turkey welcomes the agreement reached to eliminate regime's chemical weapons stock, this is not sufficient and the people who committed crimes against humanity must be held accountable.

Pointing out that the number of Syrians living in Turkey is now around 600 thousand and the projections indicate that this number could reach 1 million by the end of the year, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu highlighted that Turkey will keep its doors open to the Syrian people however that this situation is not sustainable. Foreign Minister Davutoğlu asked the international community to consider establishing safe zones in Syria where Syrian people who are currently in the neighboring countries including Turkey can find refuge and opening up of humanitarian corridors in order to transport humanitarian aid to the region.

Voicing Turkey’s support to the Geneva II Conference, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said that Geneva II will be effective with the transferring of full executive powers and transition to democracy and deportation of Assad regime with its every element from the power. He reiterated that Turkey’s supports to the Syrian people will continue.