CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS STATEMENT BY TURKEY

Turkey told the Conference on Disarmament this morning that the main focus should now be to keep the momentum in the Conference and embark on a different phase early next year.

Volkan Öskiper, delivering a statement on behalf of the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that in May of this year, when they had adopted a programme of work, they had thought that they had achieved a real breakthrough, which should pave the way for real negotiations in the months ahead. Now, they needed the flexibility by all to carry the process forward and to bring the Conference back to its fundamental role of promoting global peace and security, as an arms control negotiating forum.

Mr. Öskiper said Turkey had examined the draft report to be submitted to the First Committee and believed it to be factual and well balanced. There might of course be certain amendments that would accommodate the concerns of certain countries. However, Turkey believed that their main focus should be to keep the momentum in the Conference and embark on a different phase early next year. That was particularly important on the eve of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 2010 Review Conference. Turkey believed that the commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and, hopefully, a follow-up to START-I – all of which stood among the 13 practical steps of 2000 – could play a catalyst role for a successful outcome in 2010. Recent events had reaffirmed the significance of the CTBT, and Turkey reiterated the importance it attached to that key Treaty. The Conference was able to play a historic role at this juncture, Mr. Öskiper underscored, provided that a spirit of flexibility and compromise was there. Progress in their work here would not only provide the much-needed impetus to the NPT regime, but would also have wider implications for other multilateral disarmament activities within the United Nations and elsewhere.

Ambassador Christian Strohal of Austria, President of the Conference on Disarmament, said it was hoped that the Conference would meet next in public on Thursday, 17 September, to adopt its annual report to the General Assembly and conclude its 2009 session.


For use of information media; not an official record

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