Turkey’s Erdogan says UN should recommend use of force if Israel not stopped

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the United Nations General Assembly should recommend the use of force, in line with a resolution it passed in 1950, if the UN Security Council fails to stop Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon.

NATO member Turkey has denounced Israel’s devastating attack in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas, and condemned its recent attacks in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah militants. It has halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court, which Israel rejects.

“The UN 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,” Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

The resolution says the UN 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 UN body that can normally make legally binding decisions, such as authorising use of force and imposing sanctions.

Erdogan 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 mobilise,” Erdogan said, adding Israel’s attacks would target Muslim countries too if it is not stopped soon.