Islam Times - Turkey failure to secure UNSC seat moral scandal: Syria

Islam Times - Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations says Turkey’s failure to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council is a moral scandal.

Bashar al-Ja’afari told Syrian national TV on Friday that Ankara’s inability to secure the support of UN member states was a great loss, which occurred due to Turkey’s bankrupt policy toward Syria and Iraq.

He said envoys from several countries have voiced anger over Ankara’s stances, and particularly its policy toward Syria.

On Thursday, Turkey lost to Spain in a third round of run-off voting for the second of the two Western seats on the Security Council.

Turkey has been accused of backing ISIL militants in Syria. It continues to block the supply of military equipment and reinforcements for Kurdish fighters defending the border city of Kobani in northern Syria against the ISIL militants.

Ankara has also prevented Turkish Kurds from crossing the border into Kobani to join the Kurds in the besieged city fighting tooth and nail against the Takfiri ISIL terrorists.

The move comes as the ISIL terrorists have added further reinforcements to their ranks in an effort to break the resistance of Kurdish fighters defending Kobani for nearly a month.

The defeat came despite the fact that Ankara lobbied heavily among the UN’s 193 member nations.

Spain garnered 132 votes, while Turkey received only 60. New Zealand won a seat in the first round with 145 votes.

The state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying that Ankara could not abandon its principles for the sake of getting more votes.

The three other non-permanent seats of the 15-member UN Security Council were given to Venezuela, Angola and Malaysia.