Spotlight: Turkish president urges more UN power against U.S. in Jerusalem issue

ANKARA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- "The world is bigger than five," directly targeting the United States, is a motto often stated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to challenge the current structure of the UN Security Council (UNSC) in a bid for a reform in the membership to make it more representative.

The Turkish president criticizes the global body, which is established to maintain international peace and security, for its inaction in the Palestinian case against Israel.

On Friday, Erdogan slammed the U.S. for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that calls on President Donald Trump to withdraw his declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"The UN Security Council could not take a decision on the issue of Jerusalem because of the veto by the United States," he said.

"We remind you once again that the world is bigger than five," the president warned.

"It is far bigger than one. It is 196 times bigger," he added, referring to the UN Security Council's five permanent members, particularly the U.S., and the 196 member countries of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The Turkish president, however, welcomed the UNGA's clear-cut rejection of the U.S. Jerusalem decision on Thursday.

"No country has the right to threaten the world recklessly by relying on their economic and political power in such situation which is a clear example of unlawfulness and injustice," he noted.

"Such blackmails harm the ability of international organizations, such as UN, which constitute the backbone of the international system, to reflect the will of the countries," Erdogan said, referring to the threats by Trump to cut aid to those countries voting against his move.

Erdogan suggested that the UN Security Council has failed to represent countries with 1.7 billion Muslims around the world.

In each of his speeches delivered at the annual UNGA meetings, the Turkish president calls for reform on Security Council, saying the body remains ineffective and unjust to deliver peace for the oppressed in the world.

"A United Nations Security Council which fails to represent the whole world cannot deliver justice," he said at one of his speeches in 2016.

He stressed Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan and Ukraine are all in deep crises with the scenes of wounds that hurt the conscience of the mankind, but the UN is not able to address them.

"We would like this important Council to attain a democratic, transparent, just and effective structure ... This crooked system has no power left to take concrete steps for the good of humanity in its current condition," Erdogan said at the 72nd UN General Assembly in 2017.

Turkey proposes that the Security Council should consist of 20 equal members that serve for two years, and half of them should be replaced every year. So, all countries in the world will have a say in this important institution when it is their turn.

The recent developments with regard to Jerusalem proved Erdogan might be right about this, according to Ozan Ceyhun, Daily Sabah commentator.

He recalled that a draft resolution, presented to the UNSC by Egypt which called on Trump to rescind his decision of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, was vetoed by the U.S. this week.

The veto power was "abused once again" in this latest incident, which "would stir up chaos in the Middle East and around the world," Ceyhun said.

Erdogan refers to the fact that world has changed enormously since the UN system was created in the wake of World War II, according to Beril Dedeoglu, an academician and columnist at daily Star.

She suggested that the UNSC should have more permanent members that are capable of representing divergent cultural and religious groups. Enditem