Afət Ziyadqızı
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held intensive bilateral and multilateral diplomatic meetings at the Turkish House and the United Nations headquarters during his visit to New York for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the talks focused on regional security, the Gaza crisis, the Ukraine conflict, energy, the defense industry and global economic cooperation.
Addressing the high-level week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, the Turkish leader said the international system had been unable to respond effectively to the crisis and once again stressed the need for fundamental reforms in the Security Council:
“A structure in which the will of more than 190 countries depends on the decisions of five countries is neither fair nor capable of fully ensuring trust. The Security Council must be reformed based on the principle that ‘The world is bigger than five.’”
Erdogan also addressed the Palestinian issue, saying that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, was inevitable. During his meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, he discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the West Bank, navigation security in the Black Sea and the Cyprus issue.
During the visit, the Turkish president met with Vietnamese President To Lam and agreed to elevate bilateral relations to the level of a “strategic partnership.” Erdogan also held meetings with Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi, chairman of Libya’s Presidential Council; Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah; Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti; Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam; and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.
The meeting with the Georgian leadership highlighted the need to improve the effectiveness of trilateral cooperation mechanisms involving Türkiye, Georgia and Azerbaijan, as well as to expand transport and trade corridors.
Regional peace initiatives featured prominently in Erdogan’s diplomatic program in New York:
Normalization with Armenia: During a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the sides positively assessed steps toward bilateral trade, the opening of transport links and the signing of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Security pact with Iraq: Following a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zeidi, the sides signed a joint statement on the full restoration of state sovereignty in Sinjar and the gradual handover of the Bashiqa-Zilkan military base to the Iraqi army.
Ukraine crisis: At a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ankara reiterated its readiness to mediate the resumption of direct talks aimed at ending the war with a just and lasting peace.
Speaking at a meeting of the US-Türkiye Business Council, Erdogan invited American investors to Türkiye in the fields of artificial intelligence, digital transformation, healthcare and energy.
At the end of the visit, the Turkish president addressed the UN Climate Action event, saying that facilitating developing countries’ access to green technologies and financial resources was vital to achieving global climate goals.
