Newsletters
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed a United Nations Security Council made up entirely of elected members, with the permanent seats and veto rights held by the U.S., U.K., France, Russia and China abolished.
"It is essential to turn the need for reform into a concrete roadmap," Erdogan said in an article titled "The Quest for Global Justice in a Changing World," for Bloomberg. "At the center of this roadmap should be the abolition of the veto privilege."
Under Erdogan’s proposal, council members would serve fixed terms after being elected by the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA). Countries seeking another term would have to win majority support again, giving the assembly greater oversight of the council’s composition.
Erdogan also called for a greater role for the UNGA in global decision-making and maintained that no country should have a permanent power to block the will of the international community.
Erdogan argued that the Security Council still reflects the structure established after World War II and that global decision-making mechanisms need to adjust to current conditions.
He cited pandemics, energy shocks, supply-chain disruptions and regional conflicts as examples of challenges that have exposed the limits of concentrating major decisions in a handful of capitals.
Erdogan has long invoked the slogan "the world is bigger than five" in calling for changes to the Security Council's structure. He maintained that simply adding new permanent members would leave the concentration of decision-making power among a small group of countries largely intact.
He also pointed to new centers of influence across the economy, security, technology and diplomacy, noting that international institutions have not kept pace with those shifts.
The Turkish president further advocated strengthening the General Assembly's authority and making the Security Council more accountable to it. "Representation and accountability of the Security Council before the General Assembly should be enhanced," he said.
Erdogan contended that the international order could not be rebuilt around past hierarchies, while highlighting Asia's growing economic weight and African countries' calls for stronger representation.
He also cited wars, the climate crisis, irregular migration and economic vulnerabilities as developments that had underscored the need for stronger institutions, resilient economies and effective defense capabilities.
The president also turned to inequalities in the global economy, arguing that expectations that globalization would broadly distribute prosperity had not been fully realized.
He noted that income disparities had deepened, while technological and economic dependencies had emerged as new areas of competition. He further called for developing countries' right to development and access to financing to be secured.
"Approaches based on the will of the countries concerned, local conditions and common interests will produce more lasting and stable results," Erdogan said, urging countries with diplomatic and economic capacity to take “more active roles” in promoting peace and stability.
Erdogan said Türkiye would continue drawing on its international relations and experience in multilateral diplomacy to support efforts to reform the international system.
"We support efforts to abolish the veto privilege, give elected members greater weight in decision-making processes and strengthen the role of the General Assembly," he said.
He maintained that cooperation among countries from different regions around common principles would bolster the legitimacy and representative capacity of the international system.
"Permanent peace in today's world cannot be achieved by multiplying blocs that are disconnected from one another and do not communicate with one another," Erdogan said. "For a more just world, we must bring together the experience, capacity and will of different regions on common ground."
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
