Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeated his call for reform of the United Nations, saying the U.N., which remains deadlocked over how to respond to the crisis in Syria, is no “longer capable of showing global leadership.”
“The world is bigger than five. You cannot reduce 196 states to five countries,” Erdoğan said in a speech at Turkey’s Justice Academy on Feb. 2. Addressing the crisis in Syria, he said the vetoes wielded by Russia and China showed that “we cannot talk about justice in the world.”
“Although we discussed with Russia and China time and again, the problem has not been resolved. Some 350,000 people have died and there is still no intervention [in Syria],” Erdoğan said.
He also noted that only three continents were represented in the U.N. Security Council and there is no voice “representing Islam” within the five permanent members. The temporary members of the Security Council, meanwhile, “do not have much to say as they do not have any authority” and cannot affect outcomes, he suggested. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Anadolu News Agency)