Erdoğan says Türkiye is doing its part against climate change

Türkiye is doing its part in the global fight against climate change, the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday.

"It's clear that the destructive effects of the climate crisis demand more collective efforts. Climate change and the problems it causes are common problems of humanity," Turkish leader Erdoğan said in a video message to the special International Climate Conference hosted by the UN and Pakistan in Geneva.

Referring to devastating floods that swept through a third of Pakistan last year, leaving 1,700 dead, Erdoğan said this disaster "once again revealed the devastating effects of climate change."

"The fight against this disaster and others like it must be conducted in solidarity within the framework of a strategy," Erdoğan said.

Climate-resilient reconstruction in disaster-prone areas and flood-affected areas in Pakistan will avert new suffering, he added.

Expressing Ankara's readiness to help in reconstruction by meeting urgent needs of disaster victims in Pakistan, the Turkish president said: "The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and our non-governmental organizations also show all necessary sensitivity in the delivery of humanitarian aid."

Türkiye has supported Pakistan in the past, as well as in these difficult times, and will continue to do so, he underlined. "We have dispatched 7500 tons of humanitarian aid materials on 15 flights and 13 trains."

He also noted that Türkiye has sent two ships carrying more than 1,630 tons of humanitarian aid, expressing hopes that "once those ships reach the ports, the suffering of our Pakistani brothers and sisters will be mitigated to a certain degree."

Erdoğan once again conveyed his best wishes to the Pakistanis, condolences to families of victims, and a speedy recovery to those injured in the floods.