In Copenhagen, Gul urges all nations to take responsibility to fight climate change

President Abdullah Gul arrived in Denmark yesterday to attend the summit of heads of state at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15). Addressing his counterparts from around the world, Gul urged all nations to assume necessary responsibility to fight climate change and global warming. Stressing that humanity is facing a new era in which the fate of all societies are tightly interrelated, Gul said, "All countries must shoulder the responsibility to tackle climate change. Nobody has the right to say, 'I only live in my region.' Global incidents and tendencies don't respect international borders. Global problems require global solutions. This is in the spirit of the global cooperation that has improved over the past two years." He said now is the time to take further steps, adding that Turkey expects a comprehensive document reflecting the main goal of the Framework Agreement and Kyoto Protocol, set to expire in 2012, to emerge from the conference. In line with their historic responsibilities, Gul said, developed countries must urgently pledge to reduce emissions, and developing countries must accelerate work to shift to modern low-carbon economies. He said developing countries will need technological and financial support from developed countries in this important transition. "Turkey is a rapidly developing country," he said. "Our economic and social development continues without letup. Over the last 20 years we have seen high growth. However, Turkey's national per capita income, energy consumption per capita, and greenhouse gas emissions put Turkey among medium-income developing countries. Turkey will need technological and financial support to fulfill its national reduction and harmonization targets." Telling how Turkey ratified the Kyoto Protocol earlier this year, Gul stressed that Turkey has taken important measures to fight climate change, including new laws on renewable energy and energy productivity. "Our goal is to fully use Turkey's water, wind, sun and geothermal power capacity," he added. "Turkey is eager to take part in a fair, egalitarian, transparent and achievable new climate regime after 2012." Turkey is located in the Eastern Mediterranean, a region which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said may face the biggest fallout from climate change, Gul pointed out. He said this means Turkey must make comprehensive adjustment plans and bring additional financial burdens to the country's economy. On the sidelines of the meeting, which brought together more than 100 heads of state from all over the world, Gul also attended a dinner hosted by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in honor of the attending world leaders and government heads. On the sidelines of the event, Gul yesterday also held separate talks with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. UN scientists say rich countries must cut carbon emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 to prevent the Earth's temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above average pre-industrial temperatures. The success of the Copenhagen conference is seen as dependent in part on the commitments of the US administration, as less-developed nations have threatened to walk out unless rich countries such as America agree to cut their emissions. But the US cannot commit to legally binding emission targets without Congressional approval.