UN-a-bashed

Issue #227

If you like the fisherman and the stork tale, you’ll love İzmir’s take on the old man and the seagull.

In this week’s recap:

• Erdoğan bashes UN, West and Israel

• İmamoğlu political ban discussions

• Killing of police officer sparks anger

• Arms negotiations in New York

• Domestic and diplomatic wraps

• Kurdish defined as ‘foreign language’

Also from us this week:

• Gonca Tokyol reports on voter sentiments towards Afyon’s first CHP mayor in 74 years

• Our Editor-at-Large also interviews Berk Esen on CHP intraparty tensions (in Turkish)

Erdoğan: Netanyahu must be stopped “just as Hitler was stopped.” © TCCB

Joining world leaders for this week’s UN General Assembly, Turkish Pres. Erdoğan was welcomed to New York by none other than Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Şahin.

That snapshot, and many more, was made possible by NYC Mayor Eric Adams, whose indictment Wednesday stems from – among other things – allegedly waving regulations on the Turkish House building just across the street from the UN headquarters.

In his speech Tuesday, Erdoğan dedicated more than half of his address to the general assembly on the Israel-Gaza war and its toll on both civilians and the rules-based order.

“Not only are children dying in Gaza, the United Nations system is also dying. The truth, the values that the West claims to defend are dying,” he said. “I ask openly: Hey, human rights organizations, aren't the people in Gaza and West Bank human beings?"

Highlighting the UN’s shortcomings in times of crisis has long been a staple of Erdoğan’s rhetoric. It appeals to both domestic and international audiences while also positioning the Turkish leader as a moral spokesperson for the so-called Global South and Muslim world.

Recap readers well know Erdoğan turned his criticism of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council into a slogan and a book, which he gifted Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan this week with all smiles.

And while Soli Özel said “The world is bigger than five” is the best foreign policy slogan the Erdoğan administration has “ever come up with”, he also had reservations about the Turkish leader’s latest UN speech.

“Ten years ago, the message of Turkey being a very central, nearly indispensable power had resonated,” said Özel, a lecturer of international relations at Kadir Has University in İstanbul.

“I am not really sure that it does resonate today, especially when you are attacking everyone on a human rights basis and your domestic record on those issues is less than stellar,” he added.

Özel contrasted the speech with that of Iranian Pres. Masoud Pezeshkian, who he said also has “a lot of grievances vis-à-vis the US and Israel” but “conveyed his message” without using names or adjectives.

“I'm not sure [Erdoğan’s] speechwriters recognize that certain forums require different rhetoric or rhetorical devices … than when you address a domestic audience,” Özel told Turkey recap. “To state again the facts that presumably all the representatives there know doesn't really add to the message that Turkey wishes to convey.”

That said, Turkish FM Fidan echoed similar criticism of the UN’s leadership in a speech Monday. And in case the message was not clearly conveyed, it was definitely convoyed by trucks outfitted with LED screens that drove around New York this week.

In an interview with NBC News, Erdoğan also reiterated his stance on Hamas and hesitancy on Ukraine’s potential NATO membership.

Nearly one year since the Oct. 7 attacks, Ankara continues to place itself as a central player in regional dynamics, but with the messaging outlined above, Özel said Turkey is not likely to take part in future ceasefire negotiations, adding “we are all on hold” until the US elections.

– Diego Cupolo

İmamoğlu mingles with a crowd Tuesday in Sancaktepe. Source

When shit hits the Ekrem: İmamoğlu political ban discussions