Turkey ramps up lobbying effort for UN Security Council seat

21/08/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- The government has boosted its efforts on the foreign policy front, seeking support from African countries to win a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council. That effort seemed to gain ground during the Turkey-Africa co-operation summit held in Istanbul this week. "African countries have strong support for Turkey's candidacy. All the countries we met once again reiterated their support," President Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday (August 20th). In all, 42 heads of state held bilateral talks with him within the summit. Turkey needs the votes of 128 of the 192 UN member countries; 53 are from Africa.

In other news Wednesday, Turkey allowed US warships carrying humanitarian aid to Georgia to transit its territorial waters in the Black Sea. The US State Department says a total of three ships loaded with relief supplies will receive Turkish transit rights on the first US humanitarian mission by sea since the conflict with Russia began earlier this month. (Zaman, Interfax, Hurriyet, AFP, CNN - 20/08/08)