The friends of Turkey and the other countries most affected by the Syrian migrant have been abandoned in attempting to combat the crisis, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said April 19.

“Our friends have unfortunately not taken the necessary responsibility in sharing the burden [of the migrant crisis]. Regional countries have been left to their own devices,” said Davutoğlu during an address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg.

“I especially want to stress this: I have not spoken of the things that we have done and will do for our Syrian brothers to be hailed, and I am not here to be appreciated. We are only sharing these things with the international public to draw attention to the importance of the extent, seriousness and [need to] share the burden of the problem,” said Davutoğlu.

Davutoğlu spoke in Turkish after the language was established as one of PACE’s working languages.

Davutoğlu said he was happy to be the first Turkish prime minister to address PACE in Turkish.

“Our beautiful Turkish will be used as a speaking language in this hall and in the Council of Europe,” he said.

Davutoğlu said irregular migration was one of the common problems Turkey and Europe were experiencing, adding that Turkey had saved around 92,000 migrants since January 2015 in the Aegean Sea, which has become the busiest route for migrants wishing to reach the EU.

Reuters