Erdoğan urges the UN Security Council to deprive Russia of its permanent member status
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggested that Russia be stripped of its permanent UN Security Council member status. In addition, according to the Turkish leader, the institution itself is in dire need of fundamental reform, as reported by ghhauto.ru.
"This system must be reformed. Just think about it: five permanent and ten non-permanent UN Security Council members. They will perform their duty for another two years. The UN Security Council consists of Russia, Britain, France, the USA, and China. There are no representatives of Africa. They, too, should be represented in this organization. There are no representatives of South America. From the religious point of view, in the top five there is not a single Muslim country, there is no representatives of the Buddhists. The UN Security Council must be presented alternately by all 196 countries," Erdoğan said, speaking to activists of a youth organization in Istanbul, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency.
According to him, "there are should not be permanent or non-permanent members… The Security Council should be comprised of 20 countries that should constantly be changed.”
The Turkish President also criticized the UN for indecisiveness in dealing with the war in Syria. "We are talking about Syria, where 500,000 people have been killed. There is the cruel Assad, who has spawned state terror. In fact, he should be tried in The Hague, but the international community has not agreed on this yet," Erdoğan said.
"How is this possible? What kind of world is this? What kind of UN Security Council is this?" the Turkish President asked.
He added that Turkey "won't leave the Syrian Turkmen at the borders without help and will continue to do for them all that is in its power."
Erdoğan also accused Turkey’s Western partners of hypocrisy, claiming that those who accuse Ankara of infringing the rights of its citizens do not criticize those who support the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an organization that is considered responsible for a series of bombings in Turkey.
The Kurdish question is a sore topic for Ankara, which has been detrimental to Western efforts in the fight against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The Kurdish Peshmerga are the only forces that have had any remarkable success in combating the so-called Islamic State, and have coordinated attacks with US Special Forces and front line bombers. The US has been hesitant to provide the Peshmerga with military support so as not to jeopardize its relationship with Turkey, despite its weak ties to the PKK.
Recently, Russia began supplying weapons to the Peshmerga.
Erdoğan expressed confidence that Turkey will prevail over terror.