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| Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon addresses the world democracy forum, Photo: Council of Europe/ J. Denier |
Washington: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
on Monday said that "the escalation of the conflict along Syrian-Turkish
border and the impact of the crisis on Lebanon are extremely dangerous,"
Addressing the Council of Europe's Forum
for Democracy in Strasbourg and referring to the shelling incidents that took
place between the two countries last week, he said that, "this is a
regional calamity with global ramifications."
Ban also expressed his concern over the
continued flow of arms to both the Syrian government and opposition forces, Ban
urged again those countries providing arms, "to stop doing so".
According to the website of the event's
organisers, the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg World Forum for Democracy
brings together reformers and global leaders to identify democratic responses
to the economic, social and political challenges which affect societies today.
Also addressing the forum the Council of
Europe's Secretary-General said that, "religion is fate, politics is
compromise. They have to find a way of enriching each other not harming each
other".
Thorbjørn Jagland said that when it came to
politics, "I would say that in today's world, compromise and moderation is
one of the most important values and I believe that the major world religions
have a great potential to help build an environment in which compromise and
moderation can be a reality".
Nobel Prize Laureate, Tawakkol Karman of Yemen
said that, "we must help the Syrians face this daily suffering. The wounds
of the Syrian people are still very deep and our conscience suffers from
that". Karman was a leader of the
Yemeni uprising that was part of the "Arab Spring."
Also on Monday, the UN chief met with
Jagland, and the Council's President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Jean-Claude
Mignon. The three men exchanged views on ways to strengthen cooperation on
democracy-related activities between the world body and the Council of Europe,
and the latest developments in the Middle East and North Africa. In addition,
they discussed access to asylum and the situation of Roma and minorities in
Europe, as well as developments in the Western Balkans, according to UN
officials.