Remarks to the press by Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, following the UN Security Council consultations on the deployment of Turkish forces in Iraq
December 8, 2015Remarks to the press by Russian Permanent Representative to the UN
Vitaly Churkin following the UN Security Council consultations
on the deployment of Turkish forces in Iraq
V.Churkin: Assistant Secretary-Genera
Secondly, we pointed out that it was something which in our view is a reflection of lack of legality in the actions of the so-called international coalition led by the US, because in Syria they are conducting their operations without the consent of the Syrian government. Apparently the Turks believe that, as they declared their allegiance to that coalition, they can also pursue their own selfish motives in whatever they are doing in this situation. You will recall that as they started their own bombing campaign there, immediate and most important targets were kurds rather than ISIL and now we see that strange situation in Turkey. In our view it only emphasizes the need to do what President Putin proposed to do in September – to create a really broad international coalition firmly based on international law and the UN Charter. I think it was a good discussion, we were reassured by Mr.Jenca that the Secretary-Genera
Even though the discussion was very important I was disappointed, because I suggested that the President of the Security Council could read to you very simple “press elements”, reaffirming the need to respect international law and the UN Charter, reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, expressing the hope that the matter is going to be promptly resolved to the satisfaction of the Iraqi government, calling on the Secretary-Genera
Q: Iraq did not complain…
V.Churkin: Iraq did complain! There were public complains by the Prime-Minister of Iraq and other officials so it was not our invention.
Q: Did you raise the issue of the downed plane?
V.Churkin: I didn’t raise the issue because there is no direct connection except that I think this is another display of recklessness of the behavior of Turkey. It is rather strange to hear what they say, I mean if they believe that a brief appearance for several seconds of our plane within their airspace, which of course we do not accept and we deny that claim, is enough for them to use force to reinforce their sovereignty, it is rather strange for them to start deploying weapons and troops in a sovereign neighboring state without asking for permission.
There is a hope that they are talking bilaterally, so if they resolve this matter to the satisfaction of the Iraqi government it is very good. What gave me pause among other things is that they declared they were stopping that deployment. Apparently they had far reaching plans for certain deployments on the territory of Iraq. If this meeting has contributed to those plans being curtailed and eventually hopefully brought in line with the interests and wishes of the Iraqi government then this meeting has played a useful role.
Q: Have you proposed a text?
V.Churkin: Recently in the Security Council we developed this practice of so-called “press elements”, it is not even a press statement, it is a text which the President of the Security Council can read to the media expressing the joint position of the members of the Security Council. But as I said some members of the Council displayed questionable adherence to international law, but by now we are used to such situation.
Q: What is the fate of your draft resolution on terrorism, because they are talking about a resolution on financing terrorism and maybe another resolution after the meeting on December 18th?
V.Churkin: Actually we are now working together with the US delegation on a joint draft, which is going to combine those two areas. It’s going to be a big resolution on fighting terrorism so we’re quite comfortable that we are going to accomplish that. It is going to be an important contribution of the US and Russian delegations to our common fight against terrorism.
Q: Given the ISIL is already blacklisted in the resolution on oil and antiquities what new measures will this resolution contain?
V.Churkin: It’s a big resolution. In terms of tightening the screws on the prohibition to trade in oil and other things with terrorists there is going to be a reporting requirement and ISIL is going to be singled out. Currently ISIL is treated in the Security Council sanctions regime as part of Al-Qaeda. Now it’s going to be single out as a special threat in line with the resolution we adopted on the initiative of the French delegation
Q: Is there another resolution on supporting the Syria talks?
V.Churkin: I heard the suggestion that maybe there would be an opportunity to have a brief resolution but I don’t think we are there yet. The point is that we need to make sure that the Vienna process continues and for it to continue the agreements which were reached in Vienna II meeting need to be implemented: the list of terrorist organizations needs to be worked out which would be agreed by everybody – this work is spearheaded by Jordan - and then the list of opposition personalities who would be participating in the talks with the Syrian government needs to be agreed as well. In this particular respect we count on Staffan de Mistura who, in our view, should take the lead and bring about a list which will really be representative of the Syrian opposition.
Q: So, you expect the meeting to happen on December 18th?
V.Churkin: Not really. I don’t rule it out but we don’t think the situation is ready yet. We do not see those requirements I just outlined being met. And we are not sure when they are going to be met. To have one meeting after another without implementing the agreements which were reached previously within the Vienna format is to devalue the Vienna format. We don’t want to see that. And moreover we don’t want to allow people to relax, to think that once we have these meetings the process is on, without actually accomplishing the things. We think that now we need to focus on the substance rather than setting another meeting.
Q: So you say that Turkey is also planning to send forces to Eastern Syria…
V.Churkin: We heard such media reports that that would be the next step. I hope that the concern which clearly has been expressed by important members of the international community including members of the Security Council about what has happened on the territory of Iraq should give them pause to think about such plans with regards to the territory of Syria.
Q: Have you raised your concern to Turkish counterparts?
V.Churkin: Not in New York.
Q: Question on DPRK. Will you support China on the procedural vote to stop this meeting?
V.Churkin: The UN Security Council is to a large extent about the procedure. In this particular case I’m uncomfortable on how it was done, because we heard that there was an intention to have this meeting but we adopted program of work and it’s for some purpose that we adopted it. In the program adopted there was not a single word about it. I think procedurally it would be very bad for the Security Council if we adopt one program of work and then some members of the SC turn around and say they have decided to have another meeting. It’s not an urgent situation, not a new situation which arose so procedurally we are uncomfortable with it.
Q: Will you call for that vote or China would call for that vote?
V.Churkin: I think China intends to call for a vote. As you know we have a longstanding position that everybody and everything must perform their functions: for human rights we have Human Rights Council where they discuss all countries including DPRK. This is the place where they need to deal with those matters.
