Erdoan welcomes Brazil's call for international reforms against UN 'incapacity'

President Recep Tayyip Erdoan has apparently found a kindred spirit in Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whom he met on Sunday. Erdoan is in Rio de Janeiro to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit hosted by Brazil, which holds the rotating presidency of the group. One of the summit's sessions is titled “Reform of Global Governance Institutions.” Erdoan is one of the ardent defenders of reforms within international bodies, particularly at the United Nations.

The Presidency's Communications Directorate said Erdoan highlighted this issue during his meeting with his Brazilian counterpart. He criticized the UN's inability to prevent conflicts, particularly in Gaza, and the international body's ineffectiveness in dealing with crises.

In all related events, the Turkish leader promotes his call for reform with the mantra “the world is bigger than five” about members of the UN Security Council, which has the power to veto any initiative to stop aggressive countries like Israel. During his meeting with Silva, Erdoan said Brazil's focus on global governance reform was a timely and important initiative.

Ankara often warns that Israeli aggression endangers regional peace and that the conflict could extend beyond Palestinian lands. After Israel began targeting Lebanon, Erdoan expressed concerns that Trkiye could be the Netanyahu administration's next target. The international community, for its part, largely supports what Trkiye calls Israel's genocidal policy against the Palestinians. The UN Security Council has 15 members: five permanent members with veto power, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and 10 non-permanent members elected for a term of two years by the General Assembly. The United States is Israel's largest supporter, providing both military and diplomatic support to Tel Aviv, while France and the United Kingdom, aside from occasional criticism of the administration Netanyahu, remain steadfast in their support.

In a scathing speech to the UN General Assembly in September, Erdoan criticized the UN for its ineffectiveness in containing Israel's deadly attack in the Gaza Strip. He called the UN a dysfunctional, unwieldy and inert structure and told delegates that international peace and security are too important to be left to the arbitrariness of the five privileged permanent members of the Security Council. He also called on the Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel and said the General Assembly should recommend the use of force to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the exchange of prisoners and the transport unhindered humanitarian aid.

At the summit, Erdoan will join leaders such as outgoing US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, China's Xi Jinping, India's Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The summit agenda also includes a global alliance against hunger and taxation of wealthy elites.

Turkish media reported that during the summit, Erdoan would highlight the escalation of Israeli aggression in his region and the threat of a regional war it has provoked. He will address the shortcomings of the current global system in the face of such aggression and reiterate his calls for reforms. Israel was quick to criticize the planned summit statement, which it called unbalanced and one-sided. His foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said on the social media platform Israel's right to defend itself. Israel is not a member of the G20.

The Erdoan-Silva meeting at the Copacabana Fortress also focused on bilateral relations between Trkiye and Brazil as well as regional and global issues, according to a statement from the Communications Directorate.

Erdoan stressed the importance of high-level dialogue to advance relations between Trkiye and Brazil. He reaffirmed Trkiye's commitment to strengthening the strategic partnership between the two nations. He praised Brazil for its principled stance against Israeli aggression, highlighting Trkiye's initiative at the UN to stop arms and ammunition sales to Israel. He reiterated Trkiye's commitment to establishing a lasting ceasefire in Palestine, ensuring uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to the region and achieving a fair solution based on a two-state framework.

Trkiye has raised the voices of Palestinians oppressed by Israel on all diplomatic platforms, while seeking to normalize relations with Israel in order to find diplomatic ground to resolve the decades-long conflict. However, after October 7, 2023, he severed low-level ties with Tel Aviv and sought to involve the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Erdoan described as “the Hitler of today 'today' in crimes against humanity.

Israeli attacks in Gaza fit the hallmarks of genocide, a UN special committee said Thursday, as a Human Rights Watch report said Israel's displacement of Gazans amounts to a “crime against humanity”. The UN Special Committee highlighted “massive civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians”, covering the period from October 7, 2023 to last July. The committee said the Israeli siege, blockage of aid, targeted attacks and killing of civilians, despite orders from the UN and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), “intentionally caused death, starvation and serious injuries. Israel's military practices in Gaza “are consistent with the characteristics of genocide”, the committee said in the first use of the word by the UN in the context of the current war in Gaza. Israel, he said, “uses starvation as a method of war and inflicts collective punishment on the Palestinian population.”

This is not the first time that Israel has faced such accusations. South Africa filed a complaint with the ICJ last year, arguing that the Gaza war violated the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, a charge Israel has denied. A UN-backed assessment warned over the weekend that famine was imminent in northern Gaza, the site of an intense Israeli offensive since early October. The operation forced at least 100,000 people from northern Gaza into Gaza City and neighboring areas, the UN agency's spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP). United for Palestinian Refugees, Louise Wateridge.

The Sabah Daily News Bulletin

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