President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan started his trip to the United States with a series of bilateral talks and speeches over the weekend. Erdoğan, set to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, slammed the global system for failure to stop mass killings, particularly in Gaza.
He said institutions whose duty it is to ensure peace and security are "clearly in a state of moral collapse." "The massacre that has been going on in Gaza for 352 days has shown this once again," he added in an event hosted by the Turkish-American Steering Committee (TASC) in New York on Sunday.
The Turkish leader has repeatedly highlighted the need for reform in the world body with his motto of “the world is bigger than five,” referring to members of the U.N. Security Council where countries other than superpowers or in Europe have no visible power.
Similarly, in his speech scheduled for Tuesday, the first day of the assembly, Erdoğan was expected to call for Palestine’s full membership in the U.N. and recognition by more nations while urging the international community to increase its pressure on Israel as its brutal offensive in the Gaza Strip nears its first anniversary.
Erdoğan said a savage genocide unfolded in Gaza 30 years after Srebrenica and noted that 1.9 million people were forced to leave their homes amid attacks. “These people fight for survival with what little they have and in an environment without infrastructure. While this suffering persists, no governments expressed a visible reaction except for a few brave people. Similarly, global bodies and institutions have not taken any effective steps to stop cruelty in Gaza, to stop Israel’s massacres,” he said.
Türkiye has been a fervent critic of Israel, with Erdoğan often comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, accusing Tel Aviv of committing genocide and criticizing Western nations for backing Israel.
In May, Türkiye suspended trade with Israel, citing its assault on Gaza, and in August, formally applied to join South Africa's initiative to have Israel tried for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The president told the TASC event that Israel has always been “rewarded” for its unlawful actions and this led to bloodier attacks. “The genocide Israel is carrying out on Palestinian lands also threatens the peace of our region. The latest attacks against Lebanon are a blatant display of Israel’s attempt to expand this conflict to the wider region. Türkiye is doing everything it can and will continue doing so to stop this policy of invasion and massacre,” he said. Erdoğan said he would underline the need to increase pressure on Zionist Israel to maintain a permanent cease-fire in his talks with leaders in the United States. Erdoğan hailed pro-Palestinian protests across the U.S. and TASC’s actions with Muslim Americans on that matter and urged them to continue their call for an end to the conflict.
In his speech at Turkish House (Türkevi) in New York where representatives of several think tanks convened, Erdoğan highlighted the significance of Turkish-U.S. relations and expressed satisfaction with recent positive momentum in ties. He pointed to the latest meeting of a strategic mechanism between the two countries in March in Washington D.C. where both sides established new consultation mechanisms on counterterrorism, the defense industry, energy and environment. “Our trade volume last year exceeded $30 billion but we believe this can be increased to $100 billion,” he said.
Erdoğan stressed that they still had disagreements with the U.S. administration on issues related to Türkiye’s national security. “We always tell our American friends to end support to PKK, PYD, YPG and FETÖ,” he said. The PKK is an umbrella body of the PYD and YPG, and is recognized as a terrorist group by the United States. It is responsible for the killing of thousands in Türkiye since the 1980s. Yet, Ankara complains of U.S. support for the YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK, under the guise of the fight against Daesh in Syria. FETÖ, or the Gülenist Terror Group, also enjoys U.S. protection. The group’s leader Fetullah Gülen has been living in a posh retreat in Pennsylvania’s Saylorsburg until recently when he was reported to have moved to another location in the country. At least a dozen prominent figures of the terrorist group that was behind a 2016 coup attempt in Türkiye also reside in the United States.
The president also lamented U.S. restrictions on defense toward Türkiye, something that “undermined the sense of trust.” “CAATSA sanctions and our exclusion from the F-35 program is clearly against the spirit of alliance,” he said. Türkiye, which has the second largest army in NATO, has close cooperation with major member U.S. in the security bloc. The F-35 program is a joint, multinational acquisition program intended to develop and field a family of next-generation strike fighter aircraft. Seven partner nations – the U.K., Canada, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway – contribute to the F-35's development, production and sustainment.
Türkiye was a partner nation in the F-35 program before its participation was suspended because of a dispute about Ankara buying S-400 Russian air defense after its efforts to buy U.S. Patriot missiles were rebuffed. Erdoğan called the U.S. Congress to greenlight approval of defense industry export licenses before them as soon as possible.
The outstanding issues with the U.S. sparked a debate when Türkiye explored membership to BRICS, a grouping of countries that are viewed as rivals of Western countries, from Russia to China. Ankara had denied claims earlier that its movement toward BRICS was not a direct alternative to ties with the U.S., NATO or its bid for EU membership. Erdoğan reiterated this stance in his speech. “Our perspective is still full membership to the EU. But we do not neglect the East while we are enhancing our cooperation with the West. We are determined to strengthen the ground for dialogue with BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and ASEAN. We took critical steps to that extent. With an understanding centered on Türkiye’s interests, we will advance our cooperation with regional bodies,” Erdoğan said.
He said Türkiye would closely followed November’s presidential elections, adding that Türkiye’s view of the United States and high-level dialogue in relations would not change regardless of the outcome of the election.
At the same event, Erdoğan said Türkiye’s basic principle in foreign policy was enhancing friendships, reducing conflicts and maintaining peace. He said respect for international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of states were indispensable and those were more needed than ever today. “Almost every day, we wake up to a new crisis, a new conflict. This necessitates strengthening a multilateral approach. We no longer live in the world of 1945 or Cold War,” he said.
He said the global system should be changed, to be more fair and more inclusive. “Every crisis shows us two sides (of the United Nations): a General Assembly representing the collective conscience of humanity and five privileged countries with veto powers at the U.N. Security Council. The arbitrary stance, interests and priorities of five countries ignore the will of hundreds of countries in the General Assembly, on every issue remained unresolved for years,” he said. Erdoğan repeated his motto “the world is bigger than five” and highlighted the “warped structure” in the United Nations. “Everyone agrees on the need of reforms in the United Nations but nobody takes steps to realize it,” Erdoğan lamented. “Civilians in conflict zones, the oppressed fighting hunger, in other words, the people that need this system the most suffer from an increasingly dysfunctional U.N. system,” the president said.
Apart from events, Erdoğan held meetings with leaders of Balkan countries, including Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at Turkish House. Erdoğan stated that efforts will continue to further develop bilateral relations in all areas, according to the Turkish Presidency's Directorate of Communications, which released a statement on Erdoğan’s meeting with Rama.
In his meeting with Vucic, Erdoğan discussed bilateral ties as well as regional issues. The president hailed improving ties with Serbia and underlined the importance of the dialogue process between Serbia and Kosovo.
In both meetings, Erdoğan also discussed Israel’s massacres in Gaza and urged unity of countries to stop Israel.
