Erdoğan urges UN to recommend force if Israel’s actions not halted

Turkish President Erdoğan called on the United Nations General Assembly to recommend the use of force if the U.N. Security Council is unable to halt Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon. He referred to a precedent set by a 1950 U.N. resolution that allows for such a measure when the Security Council is deadlocked.

Monday September 30 2024 10:29 pm

Reuters & Duvar English

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sept. 30 that the United Nations General Assembly should recommend the use of force, in line with a resolution it passed in 1950, if the U.N. Security Council fails to stop Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon.

NATO member Turkey has denounced Israel's devastating attacks in Gaza, and condemned its recent attacks in Lebanon. It has halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court, which Israel rejects.

"The U.N. General Assembly should rapidly implement the authority to recommend the use of force, as it did with the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution, if the Security Council can't show the necessary will," Erdoğan said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

The resolution says the U.N. General Assembly can step in if disagreements among the Security Council's five permanent veto-wielding powers - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - mean they fail to maintain international peace.

The Security Council is the only U.N. body that can normally make legally binding decisions, such as authorizing use of force and imposing sanctions.

Erdoğan also said he was sad to see Muslim countries failing to take a more active stance against Israel, urging them to take economic, diplomatic, and political measures against Israel to pressure it into accepting a ceasefire.

"For the peace of everyone in our region, from Muslim to Jew to Christian, we call on the international community and Muslim world to mobilize," Erdoğan said, adding Israel's attacks would target Muslim countries too if it is not stopped soon.