Turkish President Erdogan: UN Security Council became 'battleground' for 5 permanent members' political strategies

By Iclal Turan

NEW YORK (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday 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 oft-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 its war 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.

Ethnic 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.