The UN is considered incapable of fulfilling its mission, the Turkish President complained in front of world leaders

“The United Nations, founded 81 years ago to maintain international peace and security, is no longer capable of fulfilling this mission,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told world leaders as the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate began today. “Or rather, they are incapable of doing so.”

He said we only need to look at the past year to see where the Organization has fallen short of its ideals, with hundreds of thousands of people losing their lives and far greater “indescribable” suffering.

“The last 12 months have gone down in history as one of the bloodiest periods in 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 said.

“People in Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and other crisis zones who pinned their hopes on the UN are sorely disappointed.”

Erdoğan highlighted the suffering of the Palestinian people, in particular stating that the injustices faced by people in Gaza and the West Bank “deeply offend the conscience of humanity.”

‘The world is bigger than five’

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

“We must recognize that a system in which the will of more than 190 countries is subordinated to the will of just five countries is not a just system, nor is it capable of inspiring or building complete trust,” he said, adding “the world is bigger than five countries.”

He also emphasized the need to ensure that international law is applied equally to both the strong and the weak, and warned that an international system that makes impunity the norm is doomed to collapse.