Türkiye calls for ‘political willpower, flexibility’ in UNSC reform

TÜRKİYE’S Permanent Representative to the United Nations Feridun Sinirlioğlu on Thursday called for political willpower and flexibility to speed up the process of reforming the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which he described as “an indisputable need.”

Speaking at a U.N. General Assembly session on the proposed reform, Sinirlioğlu stressed that efforts must be made toward reforms that would reflect today’s reality.

The Security Council requires a more inclusive and comprehensive approach in order for it to become more representative, democratic, accountable and effective, Sinirlioğlu noted.

The fundamental problem in the Security Council stems from the veto mechanism and the concept of permanent membership, he explained. “Permanent membership and veto only serve nations that have these privileges,” Sinirlioğlu said.

He argued the existing system rendered the Security Council “dysfunctional and undemocratic” and if the number of elected members and the possibility of all member states participating in the council is increased, the council would be “more representative and effective.”

Ideally, Sinirlioğlu went on to say, the right to veto should be lifted “because there is no justification for some countries being deprived of the right while others have it.”

He reiterated the necessity of establishing a just rotation system for the fairer representation of regional groups, including presenting opportunities to underrepresented groups.

“If the Security Council has a genuine desire for improvement, we should focus on models that have the potential to be swiftly implemented,” he contended. Türkiye also supports attempts to restrict the use of the veto power in the council, Sinirlioğlu added.

Indeed, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been one of the most vocal advocates for restructuring the U.N.’s top decision-making body, leading the charge with his mantra “the world is bigger than five” and saying a “more democratic, more transparent, more active and more accountable” Security Council was an expectation shared by the international community. He proposed a rotating membership system that would give all countries a chance to be a member at some point.

The U.N. reform has been an unrealized goal for several decades. At the heart of the debate lies the use, or rather misuse, of the veto power held by each of the five permanent Security Council members – the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia.

Each of them has, at one point or another, used that decisive vote to block moves they believed threatened their interests, paying no heed to the greater good or larger public benefit.

It has left the Security Council toothless and quite incapable of fulfilling its purported aim of maintaining global peace.

At the 77th U.N. General Assembly in September, U.S. President Joe Biden, among other leaders like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, raised the issue, calling for expanding the council’s membership and granting permanent seats to nations in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Among the five permanent Security Council members, Russia has been the most frequent user of the veto right, with 120 vetoes so far. It is followed by the U.S. with 82 vetoes, most of which are related to resolutions critical of Israel. China used its veto power many times, siding with Russia on the civil war in Syria.

The United Kingdom and France have not used their veto power since 1989.