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Assembly President and Turkish leader discuss Gaza flotilla incident

Assembly President and Turkish leader discuss Gaza flotilla incident

General Assembly President Ali Treki
General Assembly President Ali Treki today held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan focusing on the recent Israeli interception of a flotilla of boats carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip that led to nine civilians being killed.

The two leaders discussed steps to establish an “independent and credible” international probe into the incident on 31 May, according to a statement issued by Dr. Treki’s spokesperson following the talks in Istanbul.

They also discussed a number of other issues on the United Nations agenda, in particular efforts to promote dialogue among the world’s various civilizations.

On arriving in Turkey yesterday, Dr. Treki met with President Abdullah Gül. Their talks centred on efforts to reform the UN, in particular the revitalization of the General Assembly and the proposed changes to the composition of the Security Council.

They both reaffirmed the need to strengthen the UN, and exchanged ideas on several related issues, including giving more power to the General Assembly in the selection process of the Secretary-General. The role the General Assembly plays in international peace and security, development, human rights and rule of law also came up for discussion.

Dr. Treki briefed the Turkish President on his initiatives to hold high-level meetings in the General Assembly to address global challenges, including water, disarmament, international piracy, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, trans-national organized crime as well as the situation in the Middle East.

Dr. Treki also briefed Mr. Gül on the preparations for the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September. Mr. Gül confirmed that he will attend the event.

Yesterday evening, Dr. Treki attended a dinner hosted by Mr. Erdogan in honour of heads of State and government and other senior officials attending the third Summit of the Conference on the Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), which is taking place in Istanbul this week.