'Thursday vote proved Turkish president's UN critique'

By Gamze Turkoglu Oguz

ANKARA

Thursday’s UN vote on Jerusalem proved Turkey’s president was right to criticize the Security Council’s permanent membership system, a top advisor to Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

"The result of this vote, although non-binding, actually proved something that President Erdogan has always said, that the world indeed is bigger than five," Gulnur Aybet told the BBC World Service.

The president has previously railed against the dominance of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Aybet also said that the U.S. has lost its legitimacy as a broker in the Middle East peace process, saying: "It is not going to be possible."

"This is the first time that the U.S. has been confronted which such an overwhelming opposition in an international organization," she added.

The nonbinding resolution, sponsored by Turkey and Yemen, was approved on Thursday by a vote of 128-9.

Apart from the U.S. and Israel, seven nations opposed the motion, although 35 of the 193 UN member states abstained and 21 were absent from the vote.

Last Monday, the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution backed by the 14 other council members calling on the U.S. to reverse his Jerusalem declaration.