Türkiye aims for permanent membership in UN Security Council President says

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Ankara is seeking to secure permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council.

“Türkiye aims to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, but so far we have not achieved any results in this regard,” the Turkish leader told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Caliber.Az reports via Turkish media.

He also highlighted that the current permanent members of the UN Security Council have not shown support for Türkiye's aspirations in this direction. The Turkish leader reaffirmed his call for reforming the UN, criticising the current system that allows five permanent members to dominate decision-making while marginalising the 10 non-permanent members. He often emphasises this point with the phrase "The world is bigger than five".

The Security Council consists of 15 members: five permanent (China, France, Russia, Britain, and the US) and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly, with only the permanent members holding veto power. Regarding his meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in New York, President Erdogan mentioned that they discussed plans for a High-Level Cooperation Council meeting set for early 2025 and addressed ongoing disputes in the Aegean Sea.

He noted that Mitsotakis committed to taking steps to resolve these issues. The council aims to tackle various aspects of the Türkiye-Greece relations at a high level and establish a solid institutional framework for their interactions. It has met five times so far, with the most recent meeting taking place in Greece last year. During his meeting on the sidelines of the UN with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President Erdogan highlighted Pashinyan's positive stance toward resolving issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two neighbouring countries in the southern Caucasus with a long history of conflict. 

"Hopefully, these two countries will address this problem with this approach," Erdogan remarked.

Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been strained since 1991, when Armenian forces occupied Karabakh, a region recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, along with seven surrounding areas. 

Most of this territory was reclaimed by Azerbaijan during the 44-day second Karabakh conflict in the fall of 2020, which concluded with a Russian-brokered peace agreement that paved the way for normalisation and border demarcation. In September 2023, Azerbaijan asserted full sovereignty over Karabakh following an anti-terrorist operation, leading to the surrender of separatist forces in the region.

By Naila Huseynova