Erdogan says UN Security Council lacks Muslim voice
"The permanent members only represent Europe, America, and Asia," the Turkish president said
ANKARA
More countries from across the world's continents should be represented in the UN Security Council, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
"The permanent members only represent Europe, America, and Asia," Erdogan said during a groundbreaking ceremony of a new campus for Yildirim Beyazit University in Ankara. "There is no country representing the Muslim world."
The UN Security Council consists of 15 members, with Russia, the UK, the US, France and China serving as the body's five permanent members. The non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms by the UN General Assembly.
Erdogan also repeated his famous statement that "the world is bigger than five," in reference to the Security Council's permanent members who can veto any substantive resolution.
"The fate of all other countries across the world cannot depend on what the current permanent members will say," he added.
The Turkish president suggested that the "permanent" members should be changed periodically, taking into account different ethnicities and religions.
Erdogan also said that air attacks in Syria and Iraq, which are being carried out by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, "are not enough."
"We have said that the Free Syrian Army should be supported against Daesh,” the Turkish president said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.
Erdogan also said that the U.S.-led coalition has "helped the Kurdish Democratic Union Party and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party in Kobani," instead of aiding the Free Syrian Army.
"Both PYD and PKK are terror organizations, and we cannot tolerate their aim of establishing a state in northern Syria," Erdogan added. "Kobani was brought to the agenda, but the 1.2 million people in Aleppo, with their history and civilization, have been ruined."
