The main stop on Turnbull’s agenda is a meeting of G20 at a summit in the coastal Turkish town of Antalya, and the prime minister had said the theme of the summit needed to be the future economic growth and job creation in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
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The G20 has so far mainly been a forum to deal with global economic issues and the chances of forging a common position on Syria at the summit are remote. He said Turkey would rapidly construct housing and other needs.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called on world leaders to rally behind Turkey’s plan for a safe zone inside Syrian territory, days before it hosts the G20 summit. Turkey has been a staunch opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, arguing lasting peace is impossible without his departure.
“The question is not how and how long Assad will stay, the question is when and how Assad will go”, said Davutoglu.
US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi King Salman are among the world leaders attending the meeting.
Obama is however nearly certain to hold one-on-one talks with Erdogan, and is likely try to ease differences over the fight against Islamic State in Syria, especially the role of Kurdish fighters.
China said this week it wants the G20 to focus on reform of voting rights at the worldwide Monetary Fund. Olivia Gippner of the London School of Economics said the Chinese “are underrepresented dramatically”.
Turkey, which opened its air bases in July to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, sees advances by Syrian Kurds along an area abutting Turkey as a threat to its security, fearing they could stoke separatism among its own Kurds. “The PM thinks that the G20 should create a mechanism through which countries can assist each other”, said Panagariya. The G20 comprises the largest and emerging economies, which account for 85% of global gross domestic product and 75% of trade.
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Action will also be taken on shoring up banks considered too big to fail.
