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svgadminsvgMarch 6, 2015svgNews

Turkish PM Says UN Doesn’t Even Have a ‘Plan A’ on Syria

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu took a swipe at the United Nations and world powers on Thursday over their failed efforts to end the war in Syria, saying they lacked a clear strategy.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Turkish leader said that the UN plan to freeze fighting in Aleppo, which has failed to make headway, fell short of a comprehensive approach.

“Unfortunately, the international community did not have a Plan A until now — forget plan B,” Davutoglu said, according to the AFP news agency.

“We heard some proposals but the UN Security Council and the international community did not have a clear strategy regarding the Syria crisis,” he added.

Davutoglu said Turkey “expects the international community to do more to resolve the Syria crisis because it is the source of all evils.”

UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura proposed in October the plan to suspend fighting in Aleppo to allow humanitarian aid and lay the groundwork for broader peace talks, a proposal that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said was “worth studying”.

Aleppo, which has been divided between government-controlled and rebel-held areas, has been rocked by heavy fighting over the past days, dimming hopes that the UN effort will yield results.

De Mistura recently said that the Syrian regime is willing to suspend its aerial bombardment of Aleppo for six weeks to allow for a localized humanitarian ceasefire, but the rebels rejected the idea.

Turkey has been a fierce opponent of Assad and has supported armed groups fighting the regime while sheltering two million refugees on its territory.

But Ankara has been criticized for failing to crack down on foreign fighters flocking to Syria, many of whom are joining the Islamic State (ISIS) group, and for doing too little to shore up the international coalition fighting the group.

Davutoglu hit back at critics, saying it was “easy” to “judge the situation sitting in New York or in capitals” but that Turkey faced major challenges that were difficult to address.

He called for more intelligence-sharing to allow Turkish authorities to deport would-be jihadists heading across the border and slammed UN inaction to pursue war crimes cases in Syria.

Asked about Davutoglu’s criticism, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric pointed to the failure of the Security Council to agree on a common approach but said UN efforts to stop the violence would continue.

AFP contributed to this report.

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