Erdoğan calls for veto abolition at the UN and a more representative Security Council

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called for sweeping reform of the United Nations Security Council, including a proposal to abolish the veto power held by its five permanent members.

In an article published by Bloomberg under the title “The UN Should Abolish the Security Council Veto,” Erdoğan writes that the way international decision-making operates does not reflect the current global reality. According to him, pandemics, energy crises, supply-chain problems and regional conflicts have exposed the weaknesses of a system in which addressing global challenges depends largely on a limited group of states.

The Turkish leader said global institutions must adapt to the conditions of the times and stressed that the Security Council is still based on a model established in the period after World War II. Erdoğan argued that a “more effective, fairer and more accountable” mechanism is needed, with broader participation in international decision-making processes.

He also reiterated Turkey’s slogan, “The world is bigger than five,” describing it as a call for a broader distribution of responsibilities and representation within the international system.

For a long time, the Security Council has been questioned because of the concentration of power among its five permanent members with veto power: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China.