عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

UN Agencies Urge Italy to Let Migrants Get off Rescue Boat

The Open Arms ship is moored at the Naples harbor, Italy, Thursday, June 20,2 019. The Spanish NGO migrant ship Open Arms is in Naples with activists speaking to media and the public to mark World Refugee Day. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The Open Arms ship is moored at the Naples harbor, Italy, Thursday, June 20,2 019. The Spanish NGO migrant ship Open Arms is in Naples with activists speaking to media and the public to mark World Refugee Day. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
TT
TT

UN Agencies Urge Italy to Let Migrants Get off Rescue Boat

The Open Arms ship is moored at the Naples harbor, Italy, Thursday, June 20,2 019. The Spanish NGO migrant ship Open Arms is in Naples with activists speaking to media and the public to mark World Refugee Day. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The Open Arms ship is moored at the Naples harbor, Italy, Thursday, June 20,2 019. The Spanish NGO migrant ship Open Arms is in Naples with activists speaking to media and the public to mark World Refugee Day. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

The UN migration and refugee agencies on Friday urged Italy's government to let 43 migrants from Libya disembark from a boat that had rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea.

Rome hasn't let the migrants off the Sea Watch 3 onto the Italian island of Lampedusa since the June 12 rescue.

Spokesman Joel Millman of the International Organization for Migration said Libya's capital had "offered its port to the Sea Watch. The Italian government said they should go to Tripoli."

Spokesman Babar Baloch of UN refugee agency UNHCR said: "Italy has the responsibility to let these people disembark," adding "no one should be returned back" to war-torn Libya.

"These desperate people need to disembark," Baloch said. "This is an obligation under international law."

Millman said Italian coast guard teams rescued and took another 80 people to Lampedusa overnight.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, alluding to the Dutch-flagged vessel, said the migrants "can go to the Netherlands."

Salvini says refugees escaping wars will be welcomed in Italy, but other migrants heading to Europe for economic reasons have no right to enter.

Salvini, who heads the right-wing and anti-immigration League, has adopted a hard stance on migration, refusing to open Italian ports to NGO boats that have rescued migrants in the Mediterranean.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Fresh Term for Türkiye's Erdogan ‘On Our Agenda’, Ruling Party Spokesman Says

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a plenary session at the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Budapest, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a plenary session at the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Budapest, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)
TT
TT

Fresh Term for Türkiye's Erdogan ‘On Our Agenda’, Ruling Party Spokesman Says

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a plenary session at the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Budapest, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a plenary session at the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Budapest, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)

Paving the way for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to run for a fourth term in office is "on our agenda", the spokesman for the president's ruling party said on Monday, adding that the important factor was whether the people wanted it.

Erdogan, modern Türkiye's longest-serving leader, has been in power for more than two decades, first as a premier and later as president. Under Türkiye's presidential term limits, he is in his final term of office unless there is a constitutional amendment or parliament calls an early election.

He was first elected president in 2014 under a parliamentary system, and was later re-elected in 2018 and 2023 following some constitutional amendments by his ruling AK Party (AKP) and their nationalist MHP allies to impose an executive presidency.

Asked by reporters about an exchange between a singer and Erdogan at the weekend in which Erdogan responded to a question about running for a new term by saying: "I am in if you are", AKP spokesman Omer Celik said the AKP was pleased that the issue had been brought on the agenda.

"As those of us who march with our President, it is on our agenda," he said at a press conference in Ankara. "We will see about a formula. In politics, one year is a very short time, one day is very long. What is important is that our people want it," he added.

"When we look at events transpiring around us, it is visible at every opportunity how important our president's knowledge and political will is for our country," he added. In November, MHP leader Devlet Bahceli floated the idea of a constitutional amendment to allow the president to run again in elections set for 2028.

A constitutional change can be put to a referendum if 360 lawmakers in the 600-seat parliament back it. An early election also needs the support of 360 MPs.

AKP and its allies have 321 seats.