BAKU - ''Turkey has launched a series of initiatives to provide an immediate cease-fire in the Middle East. However, it is the United Nations which is obliged to do it,'' Turkish State Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said on Monday.
Sahin arrived in Baku earlier in the day upon invitation of Emergency Situations Minister Kemmalladin Heydarov of Azerbaijan.
He told reporters after his arrival that Turkey was extremely concerned about killing of more than a thousand Lebanese people in the Israeli offensive against Lebanon.
''An immediate cease-fire should be declared in the region to put an end to bloodshed. The United Nations' existence aims to safeguard peace in the world, not to remain silent against such attacks,'' he said.
Sahin noted that the Turkish Red Crescent had been sending humanitarian aid to Palestine and Lebanon.