Activities of Secretary-General in Turkey, 9-11 February

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres departed New York for Istanbul on Thursday, 9 February.

Upon arrival in Turkey on Friday, 10 February, he met with Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım.  At a press conference afterwards, the Secretary-General commended the “enormous generosity” of the Government of Turkey and the Turkish people for opening their borders, houses and hearts to those coming from Syria and other parts of the world.  Mr. Guterres noted that it is “a moment to appeal for effective burden-sharing and to make sure that the integrity of the international refugee protection regime is maintained.”

On Saturday, the Secretary-General met with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The Secretary-General then flew to Saudi Arabia, where he arrived late on Saturday evening.