UPDATE - Turkey to ratify Paris Agreement on climate by Glasgow summit in November: President

UPDATE WITH MORE REMARKS BY TURKISH PRESIDENT

By Seda Sevencan and Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will take a lead role in combatting climate change globally, poised to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate before the Glasgow summit in November, the country's president said Monday.

"We will have completed the ratification process (of Paris Agreement) before Climate Change Summit in Glasgow in November," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a nearly three-hour Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.

Erdogan reminded that Turkey was among the first signatories of the Paris Agreement in 2015 but it had not initiated the ratification process of the agreement in parliament due to the country's objection to injustices in the section on obligations.

The Turkish president went on to say: “As part of the recent developments, the commitments given to our country and our national contribution statement, we have decided to ratify this agreement with the start of the new legislative year of the parliament next month.”

He said: “We will prepare and carry out all our medium and long-term development programs under the guidance of the structural transformation required by the green development revolution.”