Turkey's President Erdogan backs India's bid for permanent seat at the UNSC

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Mondaysupported India's bid for apermanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, even as he called for major reforms in theexclusive body.

Hesaid that India-Turkey relations are "significantly behind" their potential and for a fairworld both countries have to work together.

"India, with a population of 1.3 billion is not a part of the UNSC. Over 1.7 billion people live in theIslamic world but they too are not a part of the UNSC. A nation like Japan is not a part of the group.

This is not a healthy sign. We need a fair and just world order by bringing in significant reforms inthe UNSC," Erdogan said here.

The Turkish leader said one cannot expect the UN Security Council to dispense justice without morerepresentation.

The membership of the body should be on a rotational basis with 20 to 30 countries holding the mantleat a time so that all nations get a chance to be a member of the key world body, he said.

"Only five permanent members (the US, Russia, France, China and the UK) have veto power in the UNSC.The non- permanent members' vote does not count. (Then) why do they deceive (the world)? The UNSCcannot dispense justice," the Turkish President said.

Referring to the ongoing fight against the IS, the crisis in Syria and countries like the US, Russiaand Iran supporting different groups in the region, Erdogan said using one terrorist organisationagainst another can be counter- productive.

Noting that there are "differences" as well as "commonalities" between the two countries, India andTurkey must "quash" prejudices against each other, he said.

Erdogan, who is on a two-day visit to India, was speaking in Turkish at the Jamia Millia Islamiauniversity where he was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree.

However, earlier there was opposition from a section of students over honouring Erdogan alleging "he isinvolved in blatant human rights violation and has become a dictator in Turkey".

Erdogan said the existing global order was "shying away" from dealing with those violating humanrights, as he attacked his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

Lashing out at IS, Erdogan said the terrorist group is "blasphemy" in the name of Islam and has noconnection with the religion.

"Terrorism can only be fought by tackling poverty and inequality. It will be unfair to blame religionfor terrorism," he said.

Erdogan also urged Indians not to view Turkey from the "prism" of the western media.

"Please, please, please do not follow the western media when you look at Turkey. This is a propagandaagainst Turkey by the western media and terrorist organisations," he said.

Erdogan also blamed the world community for not doing much while his country was fighting IS withfull commitment.

He said, Turkey shares a nearly 900 km border with Syria and has accommodated nearly three millionSyrian refugees, spending over USD 25 billion on this.

"Yet, the global players are not ready to share the responsibility. The European Union promised USD 3billion, but has only given USD 750 million," the Turkish president said.

Asserting that he was the only world leader to have visited Somalia, Erdogan said no other leader hasvisited the terror-hit African nation.

(PTI)