UN rendered unable to fulfil its mission, Turkish President laments before world leaders

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The United Nations continues to be weakened, and those who have tied their hopes to the world body – from Palestine to Sudan – have been disappointed, Türkiye’s President said, while adding that his country is committed to restoring confidence in the Organization.

“The United Nations, established 81 years ago to maintain international peace and security, is no longer able to fulfil this mission,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told world leaders as the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate got underway today. “Or more precisely, it has been rendered unable to do so.”

He said one need only look at the past year to see where the Organization has not lived up to its ideals, with hundreds of thousands of people losing their lives and far more enduring “indescribable” suffering.

“The past 12 months have gone down in history as one of the bloodiest periods of the last 30 years, marked by more than 60 conflicts and wars from Gaza to Ukraine and Russia, from Myanmar to Darfur, from Iran to Lebanon…,” he stated.

“Those in Palestine, in Lebanon, Sudan and in other crisis zones who have tied their hopes to the UN are deeply disappointed.”

Mr. Erdoğan highlighted the plight of the Palestinian people, in particular, noting that the injustices faced by those in Gaza and the West Bank “deeply offends the conscience of humanity.”

‘The world is bigger than five’

He voiced support for the efforts underway to reform the United Nations, which he expects will continue under the leadership of the next Secretary-General, who will take office in January. This includes reform of the Security Council, which consists of five permanent members, and 10 non-permanent members who are elected by the General Assembly.

“We must acknowledge that a system in which the will of more than 190 countries is subject to the whim of just five countries, is not a fair system, and it is not capable of fully inspiring or establishing trust either,” he stated, adding “the world is bigger than five.”

He also stressed the need to ensure that international law is applied equally to both the strong and the weak, warning that an international system where impunity has become the norm is doomed to decay.