By Mustafa Caglayan
NEW YORK
Any failure of the UN bodies to deal with issues that threaten international peace and security undermines the capability of the organization, Turkey's UN envoy said Monday.
"Budgetary and administrative constraints coupled with the increased divisions within the [Security] Council and the UN impede the effectiveness of our response capabilities," Yasar Halit Cevik told the Council during a debate on the operation of the UN as it nears its 70th anniversary.
He singled out the example of Syria's civil war, for which the five permanent members of the Council failed to reach an agreement to halt the fighting and to hold to account those responsible for human rights violations.
Ensuring a "more democratic, representative, transparent, effective and accountable Security Council must be prioritized" in order to make the UN system more effective, Cevik said.
"A rethinking on how to enable more effective UN response to emerging threats is particularly critical," he said, adding that the organization must adapt its response mechanisms to present day realities, different than 70 years ago.
The structure of the 15-member Council has faced widespread criticism for the overriding influence of the permanent members, who were granted their seats because of their roles in the formation of the UN in 1945 as the victors of World War II.
Many have described the privileges held by the five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the U.S. – anachronistic and far from representative of the cultural and geopolitical realities of the world.
"We must build upon lessons we have learned since the end of the Second World War, always bearing in mind the very first article of the [UN] Charter which emphasizes that the purpose of this organization is 'to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace,'" Cevik said.
On Turkey's recent military operation in Syria to retrieve the remains of Suleyman Shah, the ambassador said the president of the Security Council and UN Secretary-General were informed of the operation on the day it was conducted.
"This operation, which lasted for nine hours, was conducted based on the rights of Turkey emanating from international agreements and international law," he said.
The two-pronged operation began late Saturday and ended in the early hours of Sunday. It successfully evacuated the remains of the historical figure from the original exclave in Munbic, Syria, approximately 23 miles (37 kilometers) from the Turkish border.
At the same time, Turkey secured a new location for the tomb around 200 meters from the Turkish border, where construction has begun on a new tomb of Suleyman Shah.
He was the grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire.
According to a treaty signed between Turkey and France in 1921, the site on which the tomb is located is considered Turkish territory.
