Obama pushes nuclear-free world at UN talks

28Aralık2009, 10:19 Yeşil Gündem

As Turkey's prime minister attends a UN Security Council summit for the first time since the 1960s, the 15-member body endorses a landmark, though expected, declaration against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The resolution calls for increased efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism.

With U.S. President Barack Obama presiding, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a landmark resolution seeking to rid the world of nuclear arms. "Although we averted a nuclear nightmare during the Cold War, we now face proliferation of a scope and complexity that demands new strategies and new approaches," Obama told the 15-member body, according to Agence France-Presse. "Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city, be it New York or Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing, London or Paris, could kill hundreds of thousands of people.” Russia, China and developing nations supported the U.S.-sponsored measure, giving it global clout and strong political backing. The resolution calls for increased efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and "reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism."

Obama was the first American president to preside over a Security Council summit, gaveling the meeting into session. Turkey also has been represented for the first time in the prime ministerial level at the Security Council as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the high-level meeting, reported Anatolia news agency.

Turkey was a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council for one year in 1961. However, it was not represented at the level of prime minister because a summit was not held that year. Turkey's two-year, non-permanent council membership will expire at the end of 2010. The talks come as Iran's suspected atomic program has once again been thrust into the spotlight, with world powers warning more sanctions could follow if Tehran refuses to comply with U.N. demands to rein in its nuclear ambitions. Quoting former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, Obama told the meeting that "a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."

"The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our shared commitment to a goal of a world without nuclear weapons," The Associated Press quoted Obama as saying immediately after the vote. "And it brings Security Council agreement on a broad framework for action to reduce nuclear dangers as we work toward that goal. We must never stop until we see the day when nuclear arms have been banished from the face of the earth. That is our task. That can be our destiny." This is not about singling out an individual nation, Obama said, adding: "International law is not an empty promise, and treaties must be enforced. We will leave this meeting with renewed determination."

Fresh start, new future, says UN chief U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saluted the national leaders for joining in the unprecedented Security Council summit on nuclear arms. "This is a historic moment, a moment offering a fresh start toward a new future," he said.

U.S. officials have stressed the aim of the summit was to reinvigorate the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, which will be the subject of a key review conference next year.
Meanwhile, the annual U.N. General Assembly was to be addressed later Thursday by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country is widely believed to be the Middle East's sole, if undeclared, nuclear power.

The resolution urges all states to comply with obligations of the NPT, to refrain from conducting nuclear test explosions and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT. It also calls for talks on drafting a treaty to ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, and urges those nations that are not members of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to join it as non-nuclear states. It also includes provisions to deter countries from leaving the NPT. The text makes no direct reference to Iran and North Korea but points to Security Council resolutions enjoining Tehran to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work and Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program

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