The ambassador to the United Nations described terrorism in the Middle East as the root cause of the ongoing refugee crisis in the world, saying the crisis will not be settled as long as countries fail to effectively root out terrorism and extremism.
Gholamali Khoshrou made the statement on Monday during a UN General Assembly meeting on “global awareness of the tragedies of irregular migrants in the Mediterranean basin with specific emphasis on Syrian asylum seekers.”
“The issue of the displaced and refugees should be resolved fundamentally, since refugees are signs that a problem exists; they are not the problem itself,” Press TV quoted the senior diplomat as saying. Khoshrou added that the refugees in the Mediterranean region are fleeing violence in their home countries. Most of that violence, he said, is caused by terrorist groups and extremists. “If we fail to effectively confront terrorist and extremist groups and to eradicate them by discrediting the radical ideologies and the countries that feed them, the refugee crisis will not end.” Europe is struggling to cope with its biggest refugee crisis since World War II, with over 850,000 people having crossed the Mediterranean to reach the continent while escaping violence, persecution and poverty.
