Kuwait’s top lawmaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem joined parliamentarians from across the world for talks in Turkey on Monday over a worsening migration crisis, as the European Union (EU) continues grapple with an influx of asylum-seeking refugees. “The real burden of the issue of migration and refugees does not fall on developed nations with a strong voice, but on countries like ours that are neighbors to the crisis regions,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Global Parliamentary Conference on migration via video link.
He lashed out at some countries for “using the few hundred refugees they have accepted as advertising material,” blaming these nations for “taking no responsibility in the face of the deepening humanitarian crises,” state-run Anadolu news agency quoted him as saying. Ankara’s top lawmaker Mustafa Sentop said his country is home to some four million refugees, highlighting the enormous task of meeting their “humanitarian, social and educational needs.”
“As the issue of migration is not Turkey’s problem, it is a great injustice that the material and moral burden of this problem should be placed only on Turkey’s shoulders,” he added. The two-day talks bring together lawmakers from 54 countries, all of whom aim to find solutions to one of the world’s most pressing problems.
Earlier Monday, Speaker Ghanem held talks with the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Sentop, discussing bilateral cooperation ties between the Kuwaiti and Turkish parliaments and the latest developments in the region. The talks came on the sidelines of the parliamentary conference on migration, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in line with the Turkish Parliament, under the auspices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The two sides discussed updates on the issues of Kuwaiti investors in Turkey, which Al-Ghanem previously discussed with Turkish officials in the past. Ghanem thanked the Turkish authorities for solving many of the real estate fraud issues suffered by some Kuwaiti investors and citizens, while looking forward to solving the remaining similar issues. Ambassador of Kuwait to Turkey Ghassan Al-Zawawi and Kuwait’s Consul General in Istanbul Mohammad Al-Mohammad attended the meeting.
On the sidelines of the conference, Ghanem met the Head of the Iraqi parliamentary delegation Evan Faeq Jabro, where they discussed bilateral cooperation between the Kuwaiti and Iraqi parliaments. The Iraqi parliamentary delegation conveyed the greetings of the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mohammad Al-Halbousi to Ghanem. Two Iraqi MPs, Vian Dakhil and Basima Basim, attended the meeting. Ghanem also met earlier Monday with IPU President Duarte Pacheco, discussing a range of topics including issues pertaining to refugees and migrants in the region. The two also touched on matters to be discussed at future IPU events in Indonesia and Rwanda in October.
Ghanem’s participation in the conference, which discusses the subject of international agreements on issues of migration and refugees, was a response to an official invitation from his Turkish counterpart. The Kuwaiti parliament’s invitation to the conference also comes from the fact that Kuwait is one of the main donor countries in the world for refugee issues, especially the issue of Syrian refugees. – KUNA
