Erdogan calls for abolishing the right of veto in the UN Security Council
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a large-scale reform of the UN that would provide for abolishing the right of veto in the Security Council, giving up the institution of permanent membership, and strengthening the powers of the General Assembly.
In an article for the Bloomberg agency under the headline "The UN Must Abolish the Security Council Veto," the Turkish leader emphasized that he considers this step the central element of UN reform. In his opinion, simply expanding the number of privileged members of the Security Council will not solve the problem of the concentration of powers in the hands of a limited group of states. "Reform cannot mean granting the same privilege to other states," he emphasized. The Turkish president proposed forming in the General Assembly "a broad coalition around the principle that no state should be able to permanently block the will of the majority."
The Turkish leader also came out in favor of changing the principle by which the UN Security Council is formed. In his conviction, there should be no permanent members in it, and countries should be elected by the General Assembly for a fixed term and on a rotating basis. "We cannot build the international order of the future while preserving the hierarchy of the past. The events of the last quarter of a century, which is a rather short period from the point of view of world history, have shown that no balance of power and no international order is eternal. The system that promised humanity peace, stability, and common prosperity has proved insufficiently effective in preventing new wars, reducing inequality, and responding to the changing balance of power," the Turkish president noted.
In this context, Erdogan repeated the principle put forward by Ankara, "The world is bigger than five," referring to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. "Our call 'The world is bigger than five' is in this sense an invitation to a broader understanding of responsibility. It is now extremely important to turn the need for reform into a concrete road map," Erdogan wrote.
"The problems of each region cannot be solved by methods determined from the outside. We believe that approaches based on the will of the countries concerned, local conditions, and common interests will yield more sustainable and stable results. Countries that possess diplomatic capabilities, economic resources, and the ability to maintain communication with various parties must inevitably play a more active role in establishing peace and stability," Erdogan noted.
Separately, the president also touched upon the economic component of reforming the international system. According to him, "expectations that globalization by itself would ensure the spread of prosperity have completely failed to materialize, while inequality in income distribution has deepened, and technologies and economic dependencies have turned into new areas of competition."
Source: TASS
