Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the UN Security Council no longer works to ensure global security but instead is an arena for its five permanent member states to engage in strategic confrontations.
"The Security Council is no longer the guarantor of international security and has become a battleground where the political strategies of five countries clash," said the president.
Addressing the annual UN General Assembly in New York, Erdogan added that Türkiye considers recent events in Northern Cyprus – in which UN peacekeepers tried to block the building of a vital connecting road – a “manifestation of this empty institutional structure that provides neither justice nor trust.”
“We must immediately restructure institutions under the UN roof responsible for ensuring world peace, security, and welfare,” Erdogan said.
“We must build a global governance architecture that is capable of representing all origins, beliefs and cultures in the world,” he added.
During his speech, Erdogan once again reiterated his often repeated slogan for UN reform, “The world is bigger than five,” referring to the unrepresentative nature of the UN Security Council’s five permanent, veto-wielding members.
The effectiveness of the Security Council has been questioned in the face of recent crises, especially after Russian launched offensive against Ukraine nearly 19 months ago. Russia, one of the five permanent Security Council members, is accused of using its veto power to block resolutions related to Ukraine.
The council’s other permanent members are the US, UK, France, and China.
During the current General Assembly, US President Joe Biden also said that the US will continue to push for badly needed UN Security Council reforms amid ongoing "gridlock" that has prevented the body from carrying out its core duties.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the UN cannot continue the status quo, that the need for reform of the institution is urgent.
Cyprus issue
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Greek Cypriot attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece, and the UK.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.
Türkiye fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status.
On Aug. 18, UN peacekeepers intervened in road construction work to link the Turkish Cypriot village of Pile in the island’s buffer zone with the rest of the TRNC.
The roadwork is strategically important for residents as it will give them more options to reach Pile, where Turks and Greek Cypriots live together.
The Greek Cypriot administration and the UN, however, oppose to the project.
Iraq's Development Road
Türkiye hopes to advance integration in its region with a road and rail project linking its southeastern border with southern Iraq, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"We hope to further strengthen regional integration with the Development Road project," Erdogan said, addressing the 78th session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Türkiye and Iraq are working to build a land and railroad transportation corridor from the Iraqi province of Basra to the Turkish border.
Erdogan also said Türkiye acts with an understanding that "strengthens Iraq's political unity, territorial integrity, and reconstruction efforts," and does not differentiate between the "elements that make up the country."
The planned route passes through Türkiye and Iraq, aims to ease trade and movement and offers a secure land route by integrating Iraq’s Gulf region with international markets.
Offering an alternative to the heavily congested Suez Canal, the project will provide a direct travel route from the Gulf to Türkiye, linking it to Basra, Baghdad and Mosul in Iraq. It will also ease the possible passage from Iraq to Türkiye, shortening the distance for the movement of goods and people.
Military intervention in Niger
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a stern warning about the potential consequences of military interference in Niger as he emphasised the risk of deeper instability for that nation and the entire Sahel region.
Erdogan spoke at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and said the Sahel faces serious political, economic, social and security challenges.
"Any military intervention in Niger risks plunging this country and the entire region into deeper instability," he warned. "We hope that Niger, which has been going through troubled times recently, reaches a constitutional order and a democratic governance as soon as possible.”
Niger was plunged into turmoil July 26 when Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, a former commander of the presidential guard, led a military intervention that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
The furor against French presence in the country provoked a row with Paris.
Military junta took power in neighboring Burkina Faso in 2022 and in Mali in 2020.
Syria's territorial integrity
The support given to terror groups by forces with interests in the region pose the gravest threat to the unity of neighboring Syria, said President Erdogan.
“The biggest threat to Syria's territorial integrity and political unity is the overt support given to terrorist organisations under the direction of the powers which harbour designs on this country,” he said.
He said the Syrian people, overwhelmed by the terrorist group PKK/PYD on the one hand and radical groups organised on the basis of sectarian divisions on the other, have reached the point of revolt.
“Indeed, as a result, various consequences recently began to emerge,” he said.
The Turkish president also used his UN General Assembly address to reiterate his support for Syrians devasted by the decade-long civil war in the country, saying: “Türkiye will certainly not abandon to their fate more than 4 million people in northern Syria, who are struggling to survive in difficult conditions.”
“As the construction of settlements beyond our borders, which we are pioneering, is completed, we will continue to encourage the return of refugees to these places,” he added, referring to housing projects spearheaded by Türkiye in opposition-held areas near its borders.
Pointing to the humanitarian tragedy in Syria, now in its 13th year, Erdogan said: “We are the only country to have shown a principled, constructive and fair attitude on the developments which are threatening Syria's political unity, as well as its social integrity and economic structure.”
“It is becoming increasingly important to end the crisis south of our country (in Syria) through a comprehensive, permanent, and sustainable solution, which will meet the legitimate expectations of the Syrian people,” he said.
Also mentioning the devastating impact of the Feb. 6 earthquakes, which affected 14 million people in Türkiye as well as millions in Syria, Erdogan said: “The already dire humanitarian situation, particularly in northwest Syria, has worsened.”
“It is an unfortunate development that United Nations cross-border humanitarian assistance in the region has been interrupted at such a time,” he added, referring to a resolution on using a border crossing for Syrian aid, vetoed by the UN Security Council, whose structure and membership Erdogan has also criticised.
Iraq's political unity
On another of Türkiye’s southern neighbors, Iraq, Erdogan said that Baghdad “is also displaying genuine efforts to overcome the internal and external challenges it faces.”
“We act with an understanding geared at strengthening Iraq's political unity, territorial integrity, and reconstruction efforts, and which does not discriminate between the constituent elements of that country,” he added.
“We are fed up with the hypocrisy of those who use Daesh and similar organisations as a cover for their own political and economic interests, first and foremost in Syria and Iraq, but also in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Sahel region,” he said.
Noting that Daesh “is not the only threat in these regions,” Erdogan said: “The real threat consists of the terrorist organisations, paramilitary groups, mercenaries and some local elements working for the highest bidder which are nurtured and strengthened to be used as tools of proxy wars.”
“The countries which continue to work with terrorist organisations despite this reality, purely for their own political and economic interests, have no right to complain about terrorism and related issues,” he said.
“In such a world, no one is safe, whether they live right next to a conflict zone or far away on a land surrounded by oceans,” he added.
Conflict across Middle East
On Yemen, Erdogan expressed his “deep sadness” on the situation in the country, situated on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, which has faced a years-long civil war.
“It is our biggest wish that this problem be solved as soon as possible within the national unity and territorial integrity of Yemen,” he said.
On Egypt, Erdogan said that Ankara and Cairo “have entered a period in which we have started to develop our relations in all fields, which were stagnant for a while.”
“We are determined to advance our cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit in this new period,” he said.
Erdogan also said permanent peace in the Middle East is only possible through a lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“We will continue to support the Palestinian people and state in their struggle for their legitimate rights on the basis of international law,” the Turkish president said.
“To reiterate once again, without the creation of an independent and contiguous Palestinian state, based on 1967 borders, it is also difficult for Israel to find the peace and security it seeks,” he added, implicitly criticising the continuing Israeli occupation.
“In this context, we will pursue our efforts, so that the historic status of Jerusalem, especially Al Haram Al Sharif is respected,” he said, referring to the historic Al Aqsa Mosque.
On last week’s deadly floods in Libya, Erdogan said: “Following the disaster, Türkiye took immediate action to help Libya, where 10,000 people lost their lives and thousands still remain unaccounted for.”
“As a first step, with three ships and three planes, we provided aid to Libya consisting of hundreds of vehicles, thousands of tons of food, shelter and sanitary supplies, alongside 567 personnel,” he said.
“Our non-governmental organisations are also participating in the activities in the region with their own means,” he added. “As a country which stands by victims and the oppressed wherever they are in the world, we have not forsaken, nor will we ever, our Libyan brothers and sisters.”
The Turkish president also extended his wishes for recovery to “our Moroccan brothers who were struck by a strong earthquake like the one that struck our country,” referring to the quake that hit the North African country on Sept. 8.
