President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan apparently found a kindred spirit in Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whom he met on Sunday. Erdoğan is in Rio de Janeiro to attend the G-20 Leaders' Summit hosted by Brazil, which holds the rotating presidency of the group. One of the summit's sessions is entitled "Reform of Global Governance Institutions." Erdoğan is among the vocal advocates of reforms in international bodies, particularly the United Nations.
The Presidency's Directorate of Communications said that Erdoğan highlighted this issue in his meeting with his Brazilian counterpart. He criticized the U.N.'s inability to prevent conflicts, particularly in Gaza, and the international body's inefficiency in tackling the crises.
In all related events, the Turkish leader promotes his reform call with the mantra "world is bigger than five" about members of the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to veto any initiatives aimed at stopping aggressive countries such as Israel. During his meeting with Silva, Erdoğan said Brazil's focus on global governance reform was a timely and significant initiative.
Ankara often warns Israel's aggression endangers regional peace and the conflict may spill over further beyond Palestinian lands. After Israel started targeting Lebanon, Erdoğan expressed concerns that Türkiye may be the next target of the Netanyahu administration. The international community, meanwhile, is largely supportive of what Türkiye calls the genocidal policies of Israel against Palestinians. The U.N. Security Council comprises 15 members: Five permanent members with veto rights, China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S., and 10 non-permanent members who were elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly. The U.S. is the biggest supporter of Israel, providing both military and diplomatic support to Tel Aviv, while France and the United Kingdom, apart from occasional criticism of the Netanyahu administration, are steadfast in their support.
In a scathing address to the U.N. General Assembly in September, Erdoğan slammed the U.N. for its inefficacy in restraining Israel’s deadly onslaught in the Gaza Strip. He called the U.N. a “dysfunctional, unwieldy and inert structure” and told delegates that “international peace and security are too important to be left to the arbitrariness of the privileged five” permanent members of the Security Council. He also called for the Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel and said the general assembly should recommend the use of force to achieve an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, the exchange of prisoners and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.
At the summit, Erdoğan will join leaders including outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The summit’s agenda also includes a global alliance against hunger and taxation of the wealthy elite.
Turkish media outlets reported that during the summit, Erdoğan will highlight Israel’s escalating aggression in its region and the threat of a regional war it caused. He will address shortcomings of the current global system in the face of such aggressions and repeat calls for reforms. Israel was quick to slam the planned declaration of the summit it called “unbalanced and biased.” Its foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said on social media platform X that he had phoned several foreign ministers of the G-20 states over the weekend and expressed his “displeasure” at the draft that reportedly excluded Israel’s right to defend itself. Israel is not a member of the G-20.
The Erdoğan-Silva meeting at the Copacabana Fortress also focused on bilateral relations between Türkiye and Brazil as well as regional and global issues, according to a statement from the Directorate of Communications.
Erdoğan underscored the importance of high-level dialogue in advancing relations between Türkiye and Brazil. He reaffirmed Türkiye's commitment to strengthening the strategic partnership between the two nations. He commended Brazil for its principled stance against Israeli aggression, highlighting Türkiye's initiative at the U.N. to halt arms and ammunition sales to Israel. He reiterated Türkiye's dedication to establishing a lasting cease-fire in Palestine, ensuring uninterrupted humanitarian aid delivery to the region and achieving a fair solution based on a two-state framework.
Türkiye raised the voice of Palestinians oppressed by Israel at every diplomatic platform while it sought to normalize ties with Israel to find a diplomatic ground to resolve the decadeslong conflict. However, after Oct.7, 2023, it severed what low-level ties with Israel it had with Tel Aviv and sought to implicate the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Erdoğan described as "today's Hitler" in crimes against humanity.
Israel's attacks in Gaza are consistent with the characteristics of genocide, a special U.N. committee said Thursday, as a Human Rights Watch report said Israel's displacement of Gazans amounts to a "crime against humanity." The U.N. Special Committee pointed to "mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians," covering the period from Oct. 7, 2023, to last July. The committee said Israel's siege, blocking of aid, and targeted attacks and killing of civilians, despite U.N. and International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders, was "intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury." Israel's warfare practices in Gaza "are consistent with the characteristics of genocide," the committee said in the first use of the word by the U.N. in the context of the current war in Gaza. Israel, it said, was "using starvation as a method of war and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population."
It's not the first time Israel has faced such accusations. South Africa brought a case before the ICJ last year, arguing the Gaza war breached the 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention, an accusation Israel has denied. A U.N.-backed assessment at the weekend warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, the site of an intense Israeli offensive since early October. The operation had forced at least 100,000 people from north Gaza to Gaza City and nearby areas, U.N. Palestinian refugee agency spokesperson Louise Wateridge told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
