ANKARA, Jun 3 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has called on signatory countries of the Paris Agreement not to follow U.S. President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the accord, and to continue to fight against climate change.
"We hope that other signatory countries will not follow Trump, saying 'If U.S. did it, I will also do it.' If they follow [him], this will cause the Paris deal to collapse," Mehmet Emin Birpinar, Turkey's chief negotiator for climate change talks said on Friday.
The Paris Agreement on climate change adopted by 196 parties in Paris in 2015, aims to tackle climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and sets a global target of keeping the rise in the average temperature no higher than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
If the Paris Agreement does not work, we cannot reach the targets set by the agreement, and this will make the world vulnerable to expected disasters within the coming 100 years, Birpinar said.
U.S. President Trump, announced on Thursday the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris agreement that he said is unfair to U.S. economy.
Birpinar called on all the signatory countries to "take on the responsibility in order to prevent a catastrophe."
Turkey signed Paris Agreement on April 22, 2016 at United Nations Headquarter.
