Roundup: UN chief urges political solution to humanitarian crises

Leaders of world's powers should gather together and strive for political solutions to humanitarian crises, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday.

The UN chief addressed the closing press briefing of the World Humanitarian Summit, hailing the event and its achievement, but also expressing his disappointment about the absence of some leaders.

"So far, over 400 member states, organizations and groups have made altogether 1,500 commitments at the summit," he said. "But it's disappointing that some world leaders could not be here, especially those from G7 countries except Chancellor Angela Merkel."

Ban Ki-moon paid tribute to Turkey's hospitality and its forefront humanitarian actions, which rendered the summit into a unique event when the world faces an unparalleled level of human suffering since the founding of the UN.

"We have wealth, knowledge and awareness to take better care of each other, but we need actions based on the five core responsibilities," including political leadership to prevent and end conflict, norms to safeguard humanity, leaving no one behind, change from delivering aid to ending need and investment in humanity.

"I made a special appeal to leaders to take important steps at the highest level, as they have unique responsibility to pursue peace and stability, and to support the most vulnerable people," Ban Ki-moon stressed.

The UN will continue to pursue the targets of humanitarian work and urge member states to exercise their influence to support the efforts the UN have been making, he added, noting that more high-level forums and meetings on large movements of refugees and migrants will be held in New York on September 19 this year.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also proposed world-wide cooperation in political solutions to humanitarian crises.

"We cannot exclude ourselves from humanitarian crises. The borders and high walls will not be able to keep us away from the problems," he said, noting that the Syrian humanitarian crisis has displaced 12 million people.

According to the president, in Istanbul alone there are 500,000 refugees. Turkey's 26 refugee camps are only capable of hosting 280,000 refugees.

"We are in favor of the establishment of a zone which will be secured from terrorism in northern Syria," he explained. "We want to build a city there where we can transfer the refugees who lives in camps in Turkey.

The president also wished the European Union would deliver the promised three billion euros (3.34 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016 and another three billion euros to Turkey in order to cope with the refugee problem, or Turkish parliament will not make necessary amendments to enable the readmission of the refugees now in Europe.

The two-day World Humanitarian Summit closed Tuesday in Istanbul, which attracted 173 member states, 55 heads of state and government, some 350 private sector representatives and thousands of people from civil society and non-governmental organizations. Endit