5 February (UNIC Ankara) –The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean will convene the International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra, Malta, on 12 and 13 February 2010.  The theme of the Meeting is “The urgency of addressing the permanent status issues – Borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, water”. 

The purpose of the Meeting is to provide a forum for the exchange of views on the current state of the peace process and encourage a constructive dialogue among the stakeholders on how to create .more

2 February (UNIC Ankara) –Secretary-General Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – who as a citizen of the Republic of Korea says he understands the “emptiness” of a country divided into north and south – yesterday stressed that a solution to Cyprus’ long-running problems is “within reach,” calling for the leaders of the two communities on the Mediterranean island to step up their efforts to reach agreement.

“But the time is ripe to push ahead. I am convinced these two leaders can achieve a mutually beneficial solution.” more

1 February (UNIC Ankara) –In December, the nations of the world and most of its leaders met in Copenhagen to agree ambitious and immediate global action to combat climate change. That complete vision did not emerge. The task has therefore become more, not less urgent. The window of opportunity to tackle the climate problem closes more rapidly the longer nations delay to act together.

But Copenhagen has raised the challenge to the highest level of government policy, the level where it must ultimately be resolved. Moreover, what emerged from Copenhagen was a consensus amongst leaders on a collective, long-term response to climate change, and a set of measures to implement global climate action, which came close to .more

29 January (UNIC Ankara) –Earthquakes were the deadliest natural disasters in the past decade, accounting for 60 per cent of deaths caused by such hazards, a senior United Nations official said yesterday, stressing the importance of investing in disaster risk reduction.

UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Margareta Wahlström stated that earthquakes remain a serious threat for millions of people worldwide as eight of the most populous cities in the world are built on earthquake fault-lines. .more

27 January (UNIC Ankara) – Top UN officials have stressed the importance of sharing the stories of the men, women and children who survived Nazi death camps as a way to encourage respect for diversity and human rights.

“Holocaust survivors will not be with us forever – but the legacy of their survival must live on,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message to mark the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. more

26 January (UNIC Ankara) –The top United Nations envoy to Haiti, which was devastated by a massive earthquake nearly two weeks ago, today proposed a new way to coordinate relief efforts in the Caribbean nation to ensure that aid reaches those who need it.

Edmond Mulet, the Secretary-General’s acting Special Representative, unveiled that plan at a “Friends of Haiti” meeting in Montreal yesterday which drew senior UN officials and foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries to discuss Haiti’s more

22 January –The disaster in Haiti shows once again something that we, as human beings, have always known: that even amid the worst devastation, there is always hope.

I saw that for myself this week in Port au Prince. The UN suffered its single greatest loss in history. Our headquarters in the Haitian capital was a mass of crushed concrete and tangled steel. How could anyone survive, I thought? Yet moments after I departed, with a heavy heart, rescue teams pulled out a survivor – alive, after five days, buried, without food or water. I think of it as a small miracle, a sign of hope.more

20 January (UNIC Ankara) – The Security Council yesterday backed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call to increase the overall force levels of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti to support the immediate recovery, reconstruction and stability efforts following last week’s devastating earthquake.

Following his visit on Sunday to the capital, Port-au-Prince, Mr. Ban asked the Council for an additional 1,500 police officers and 2,000 troops to reinforce the mission, known as MINUSTAH, more

31 December (UNIC Ankara) –Mr. Shahid Najam assumed his office as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ankara on 24 December 2009.
Mr. Najam, a national of Pakistan, expressed enormous pleasure to have been posted to Turkey, a country which has been historically at the forefront in expanding the development frontiers of human civilization. He underscored his commitment to work closely with the Turkish government, civil society and other partners to increase UN-Turkey cooperation by focusing primarily on joint priorities.