Türkiye's Communications Directorate holds panel in Japan on UN Security Council reform

By Ahmet Furkan Mercan

TOKYO (AA) - Türkiye's Communications Directorate on Thursday organized a panel in Tokyo to underline the need for a UN Security Council reform.

The panel was moderated by Bugra Kanat, the Washington director of the Ankara-based Political, Economic and Social Research Foundation (SETA), and attended by panelists, including Takahiro Shinyo, Japan’s former ambassador to the UN and Germany, professors Toshiya Hoshino from Osaka School of International Public Policy, and Gonca Oguz Gok from a Turkish university.

The session began with a video message from Türkiye's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun.

Highlighting the critical need for the reform on the structure of the UN Security Council, Altun said the UN, established for the preservation of peace and security, no longer meets the expectations of the international community.

"A new UN should be designed to protect international peace and security more effectively," Altun said, adding: "A multicultural UN is needed to ensure a just and more sustainable global peace."

Shinyo said: "The UNSC (UN Security Council) is experiencing a credibility crisis and that the aim of the UNSC reform would be to change the structure of the Council," according to a press release issued by the Turkish Communications Directorate.

"We should not increase the number of permanent members, 5 permanent members are enough in the Council," he said.

Referring to the idea of giving "non-permanent UNSC members a status akin to semi-permanent members by extending their terms of office," he said the permanent members of the UN Security Council may also change in the long run.

Altun added that more concrete steps should be taken on the topic of reform, which has been discussed for 30 years.

Toshiya, for his part, said the necessity for the reform of the UNSC is “undisputed” but “the issue has lost momentum."

On her part, Gok said procedural reforms would not successfully resolve this crisis and that the UN reform process may acquire momentum through multilateral initiatives spearheaded by rising middle-power nations.

The Turkish Communications Directorate has organized a series of panels in Italy, Argentina, the UK, Norway, France, Sweden, Germany, South Africa, and South Korea, emphasizing the need for a UN Security Council reform.