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Security Council denounces attacks in Turkey, reaffirms fight against terror

Security Council denounces attacks in Turkey, reaffirms fight against terror

UN Security Council in session
The United Nations Security Council today denounced the latest bombings in Istanbul, Turkey, saying the attacks have only hardened its resolve to fight terrorism.

The Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution condemning the bomb attacks of 15 November on two synagogues, which killed 25 people, and today. The latest strikes, aimed at the British consulate and at the local headquarters of the HSBC Bank, have left at least 26 people dead and hundreds of others injured.

The resolution expressed the Council's "deepest sympathy and condolences to the people and Governments of Turkey and the United Kingdom and to the victims of the terrorist attacks and their families."

The Council urged all States to do their part in bringing to justice the perpetrators and sponsors of these attacks, and said its determination to combat terrorism has only been reinforced by the bombings.

After the resolution was passed, Turkey's Ambassador, Umit Pamir, thanked those who had extended their sympathy and offered his condolences to the UK. He said the strikes had opened fresh wounds for a nation that had endured more than a decade of the scourge of terrorism. He also stressed that there were no good terrorists or second-class victims; terrorism had always turned against the very hands that fed, abetted or condoned it.

Following the Council debate, the UK's Ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, told reporters that "it has been a very sad day for democracy. Yet another callous attack on innocent victims…our thoughts go out to the families of those killed and injured." He thanked Turkey for its support.

Ambassador Jones Parry added: "It is particularly heartening that the Security Council, unanimously and promptly, has condemned these attacks, and the other attacks which have also taken place in the last days, and has done so unequivocally."

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Video of Security Council meeting