ANKARA, June 5. /TASS/. The Western countries have shown signs they may agree with Turkey’s idea of reforming the UN Security Council, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party on Sunday.
"The proposal for reforming the UN Security Council we have been pressing for many years looks successful. In the world there are more than five countries (permanent members of the UN Security Council). They have begun talking about this themselves. They are saying that the UN Security Council needs reform. They will eventually come to what we are calling for," Erdogan said.
The Turkish authorities have pressed for reforming the UN system for many years. Their calls for it have become more frequent recently in the light of the situation in Ukraine.
In October 2021, Erdogan, while addressing the Angolan parliament, said that the future of humanity should not be left to the mercy of a "handful of countries" that won World War II. Speaking about what he sees as inequality that persists in the global system, he stressed that "the world is larger than five countries" - a clear reference to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which joined it as World War II winners.
In a comment on the Turkish leader’s claims Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed that the "quintet" of permanent members of the UN Security Council had no right to dictate to the world its fate, but added that it by no means had such ambitions. Lavrov stressed that the "quintet" enjoyed precisely the powers that were written down in the UN Charter, which reflected the collective will of all members of the world community. The "quintet" bears a special responsibility for the state of affairs in the world, first and foremost for preventing a global conflict, Lavrov concluded.