PRESS BRIEFING BY AMY QUANTRILL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VOLKAN BOZKIR

PRESIDENT TRIP TO TURKEY QATAR & AZERBAIJAN

  • The President of the General Assembly will return to New York today following his first official trip of the session to Turkey, Qatar and Azerbaijan.
  • On Saturday 10th April, the President travelled to Turkey’s southern province of Hatay to meet with Syrian refugees and visit the United Nations cross-border humanitarian operations.
  • The President first met with the Governor of Hatay, Mr. Rahmi Doğan, who provided an update on the situation of the approximately 450,000 Syrian refugees living in Hatay. They discussed UN-Turkish cooperation, which they deemed necessary for the provision of aid by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to northwest Syria. The President was then briefed on OCHA operations by Mr. Mark Cutts, United Nations Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, and Ms. Catherine Alcaraz, Deputy Director of the United Nations Monitoring Mechanism (UNMM) at the United Nations’ transshipment hub in Reyhanlı.
  • While at the border the President called on the Security Council to ensure that the vital cross-border operations he had seen would continue uninterrupted. He also expressed concern that there was only one authorized border crossing, which was not sufficient to meet Syrians’ rising humanitarian needs. He underscored the need to expand operations and stressed that no country had the luxury to stop the cross-border operations during a crisis of such magnitude.
  • The President then visited the Cilvegözü (Bab-Al-Hawa)Border Gate, at the Turkish-Syrian border, where Hatay Deputy Governor Salih Altun described Turkey’s role in cross-border humanitarian efforts. The President traveled to the Bükülmez border post overlooking Atme Tent City, which houses internally displaced Syrians. He then visited the Boynuyoğun Temporary Accommodation Center, a camp for Syrians who have sought refuge in Turkey. He then toured the Altınözü Culture and Art Center, where he saw production workshops run by that cooperative, which was established by Syrian and Turkish women.
  • Responding to a question, the Deputy Spokesperson would be meeting with the President of the Security Council on his return, which would give the President the opportunity to raise the issue of border crossings with the President of the Security Council. The Deputy Spokesperson confirmed that the President said the current border crossing was not sufficient to meet the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people.

 

ECOSOC FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT FORUM

  • The President spoke via a video message at the ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum, which aims to advance actions that will help the world recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and promote the sharing of experiences and initiatives on financing the SDGs in a rapidly evolving context.
  • The President encouraged Member States to ensure their recoveries from the pandemic are built on equality, sustainability and resilience. The President said: COVID-19 is indeed the greatest test of our generation’s commitment to multilateralism, global citizenship, and solidarity. Let us seize the opportunity of this crisis to effectively shift toward a more sustainable and resilient path, to demonstrate the strength and utility of the multilateral system, and to build a world that we will proudly pass down to future generations.

 

SPOKESPERSON ASKED FOR UPDATES ON SECRETARY-GENERAL SELECTION & APPOINTMENT PROCESS