UNITED NATIONS — Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the international community on Monday to step up efforts to address the refugee crisis which has uprooted thousands from their homes and forced them to flee to surrounding countries and Europe. Davutoglu, speaking with journalists at the UN on Monday, said that the only way to prevent new waves of refugees flowing from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya is to stop atrocities committed by the Syrian regime and the Daesh group and to create safe areas for Syrians within their country. “The refugee issue was seen by the international community at first as if it's a Syrian issue, later it was seen as a Turkish or neighboring countries' crisis, but now it is clear that the refugee issue is a global crisis, a crisis which we cannot ignore, which we cannot forget.” Of the 1.9 million Syrians who have fled to Turkey, only about 300,000 are in refugee camps, while the vast majority has taken up life in towns and cities along the border. Turkey this year began stopping cargo ships from taking Syrians and others to Italy. The Turkish action drove those migrants to try the shorter but dangerous Aegean Sea crossing to Greece. Decrying what he sees as the “minimal” engagement of the international community in tackling the issue, he expressed hope that “after this UN General Assembly's meetings, there will be more awareness and the international community will be more effective on this matter.” The prime minister laid heavy blame on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who has used barrel bombs and chemical weapons against civilians. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities on Tuesday released 32 people working for Kurdish-language media detained overnight in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, local sources said. Anti-terror police on Tuesday detained the 32 journalists and other employees in raids on the offices of pro-Kurdish news agency Dicle (DIHA), Kurdish-language newspaper Azadiye Welat, Aram Publications and KURDI-DER (Kurdish language association). All were released early Tuesday after being questioned by police, the sources said. It was not clear what they were accused of but one source said police had conducted the raid to search for a suspected terrorist who was thought to be hiding inside the DIHA building, which also houses Azadiye Welat. DIHA on Tuesday condemned the detentions in a statement on its website and said those held were taken to the ground floor of the building where they were subject to violence. The Turkish government has been waging a relentless offensive against strongholds the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the southeast and in neighbouring northern Iraq. In response the group — blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community — has hit back hard, killing dozens of police and soldiers in almost daily bomb and gunfire attacks. In recent weeks, the authorities have carried out a string of arrests of journalists, and police have raided a holding company that owns opposition media, sparking criticism from Western countries and media watchdogs. — Agencies
