Turkish President Erdogan lambasts wealthy nations over refugee double speak

By Goobjoog News International Correspondent

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at wealthy nations in the west for their failure to support developing countries cope up with the global refugee’s crisis.

Speaking during a meeting here with his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta, Erdogan said developing economies were almost solely bearing the burden of supporting refugees in their countries without sufficient support from rich countries.

“Wealthy nations in the west have failed to do something about the refugees. They have left the burden to the poorer states, especially African states,” said Erdogan.

The Turkish leader said his country and Kenya had borne the brunt of terrorism in their bid to host refugees from war torn countries noting both countries had lost more than 40,000 people in terrorism related offences.

“Kenya has invested heavily in the stability of the whole region. Both Turkey and Kenya have faced similar problems because of their geographical locations,” President Erdogan observed.

President Erdogan called for a quick and lasting solution to the refugee situation in Kenya noting there was need for concerted efforts from developed countries. Kenya last month declared it was closing the Dadaab camp starting November this year. The camp hosts upwards of 400,000 refugees majority of whom are Somalis.

Meanwhile, Kenya and Turkey Thursday signed bilateral trade agreements which would see the trade volume between the two rise to $10 billion in the next five years from the current $ 14.4 million.

President Erodgan will today lead his team of 135 top business people in exploring commercial engagements with Kenyans before heading to Somalia Friday where he is expected to officially open the new Turkish embassy in Mogadishu.

President Erdogan started his East African tour in Uganda and is set to conclude with the Horn of African country stop over.