Türkiye's Communications Directorate holds panel on UN Security Council reforms in Stockholm

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's Communications Directorate on Thursday organized the sixth panel in a series on UN Security Council reforms in the Swedish capital city Stockholm.

The council needs to be reformed in order to make the UN more democratic and better-functioning, political scientist Hans Agne said at the event, titled United Nations Security Council Reform: A New Approach to Reconstruction of the International Order.

Emphasizing that public criticism of the UN should therefore not be avoided, the Stockholm University academic arguing that it would be "a good idea to increase the UN Security Council's accountability to the General Assembly."

Also speaking at the panel, journalist-analyst Klaus Jurgens, criticized "elitism and arrogance" in international organizations, including the UN and the EU.

Zeynep Oktav, another attendee who is a professor of international relations at Medeniyet University in Istanbul, said that the mantra, "the world is bigger than five," often repeated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a call to reform the 15-seat council to make it more representative, accountable, and transparent.