Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran issued an assessment following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s address to the 81st UN General Assembly.
Drawing attention to Erdoğan reciting lines from the late poet Sezai Karakoç’s poem “They Think That” at the end of his speech, Duran said that not only a poem but also “the voice of conscience and truth” had echoed from the UN podium.
In the final part of his UN General Assembly address in New York on September 22, Erdoğan recited the section of Karakoç’s poem beginning with the words, “If we remain silent, there will be no issue.”
Continuing his speech, the president said he would continue to defend the rights of the oppressed, the aggrieved and the voiceless, and conveyed messages about Türkiye’s stance against injustice and oppression.
Duran: A strong call to humanity’s shared conscience
Communications Director Duran said the section Erdoğan concluded with the poem was a strong call to humanity’s shared conscience in the face of oppression in different parts of the world, particularly in Gaza.
Duran said the lines written by Sezai Karakoç years ago had regained meaning at the UN General Assembly podium, concluding his post with the words, “Truth does not remain silent, conscience does not remain silent, and history does not forget.”
Alongside Gaza and the Palestinian issue, Erdoğan’s UN speech also addressed topics including reform of the United Nations system, global justice, regional conflicts, climate change, artificial intelligence and disinformation.
In an earlier assessment of Erdoğan’s UN speech, Communications Director Duran had also said that Türkiye supported a more just world and a stronger international system.