Erdoğan urges UN to abolish Security Council veto power ahead of General Assembly address

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said reform of the United Nations Security Council must begin with the abolition of the body's veto power, proposing a system with no permanent seats in which members are elected by the General Assembly for fixed terms. In New York for the UN’s 81st General Assembly, Erdoğan used a Bloomberg opinion piece to examine the structure of international institutions. Meeting representatives of the US business community, he said Turkey wanted to strengthen cooperation with the United States in defence, energy and trade. In his article entitled "The UN must abolish the Security Council's veto power," Erdoğan argued that the Council still reflects the balance of power that emerged after World War II.