Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants the five permanent members of the UN Security Council stripped of their veto power, according to Ukrainska Pravda. In an op-ed for Bloomberg ahead of this week’s General Assembly in New York, Erdoğan said scrapping the veto must be both the starting point and the main goal of any real reform.
Under his model, the Security Council would have no permanent members at all. Every seat would be filled by a General Assembly vote for a fixed term, and a country seeking another term would have to win majority support again. Erdoğan also called for stronger General Assembly powers and a council that is accountable to it.
The council has 15 members, with the US, the UK, France, Russia and China holding permanent seats and veto power. The arrangement dates to the 1945 UN Charter, when the Soviet Union held the seat Russia occupies today. The other 10 members serve two-year terms, and a substantive resolution fails if any permanent member votes against it.
The five countries Erdoğan is targeting would all have to sign off on losing their veto
Erdoğan dismissed the idea of simply adding permanent members, as it would only widen the circle of privileged states. Recent crises, he argued, showed that global problems can no longer be left to a handful of capitals. “We cannot build the international order of the future by preserving the hierarchies of the past,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wrote.
Any change to the veto requires an amendment to the UN Charter, backed by two-thirds of the General Assembly. However, the amendment must then be ratified by two-thirds of member states, including all five permanent members. That lets each of the five protect its own veto, as no amendment can take effect without its ratification.
UN members already pledged to reform the council in the 2024 Pact for the Future, which named Africa’s underrepresentation as a priority. However, its basic structure has not changed, as talks continue over the council’s size and whether to limit the veto.
When Erdoğan made a similar call in 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the UN would die “the very same day” the veto disappeared and turn into the League of Nations. Putin also suggested Erdoğan believed Turkey could become a permanent member itself. However, the new plan would scrap permanent seats altogether, leaving no room for Turkey to claim one.
Russia vetoed a 2022 resolution condemning its invasion of Ukraine, and its permanent seat has kept the council from adopting measures Moscow opposes on the war. The US blocked a Gaza ceasefire resolution in late 2023 despite support from 13 of the 15 members. Erdoğan responded by calling the council an “Israel protection and defence council.”
Erdoğan repeated the argument from the General Assembly podium in his 16th address to the body. He told world leaders the current system is unfair, as the will of more than 190 countries depends on the whim of five. He closed the point with the slogan he has used since 2013, “the world is bigger than five.”
He also said the UN, founded 81 years ago to maintain peace, has been rendered unable to fulfill that mission. The Israeli delegation walked out during the address, which centered heavily on Gaza. Tension around the session had been building since New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani clashed with Israel’s UN ambassador over protests planned for Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit.
Erdoğan said he expects reform talks to continue under the next UN Secretary-General, who takes office in January. Ankara has said it will use its diplomatic ties to build support for abolishing the veto.
Published: Sep 23, 2026 12:30 pm