Erdogan urges joint anti-terror efforts from GCC countries

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Monday for joint efforts from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to fight terrorism, especially in work with conflict-stricken regions.

He made the remarks at an event co-hosted by the Bahrain-based Middle East and North Africa office of the International Peace Institute and his Bahraini counterpart Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

"The Islamic countries are going through a crucial period which requires the region to deal with terrorism including the Islamic State (IS)," said the Turkish president.

"I urge the GCC countries to help us in this fight and to take responsibility, or else we will lose more brothers and witness more conflicts," he said.

Erdogan highlighted the seven-year-long civil war in Syria, where children cannot go to school and are living with bombs dropped on a daily basis.

"It is up to us now to solve this issue as Muslims are harming each other and this bloodshed should stop," said the president. "We need Syria, like the rest of the region, to be free from terrorism."

He said Turkey was providing help to more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees, and that what happens in neighboring Syria would also affect Turkey.

In his address, Erdogan said he had informed former U.S. President Barack Obama and the sitting President Donald Trump of the significance of the region, and called upon GCC countries to give more financial support.

On the issue of the IS, the Turkish president said his country had pushed back these terrorists and killed thousands of them.

"Islamic State is involved in terrorist activities and killing of innocent people, and such acts have nothing to do with Islam and those cannot be called Muslims," he said. Endit