Speech by H.E. Abdullah Gül at the UNSC Summit on Peacekeeping-Peacebuilding

I will now make some brief remarks in my national capacity.

Having listened to the members of the Council, and the valuable insights they have presented based on their own experiences, I can easily state that the purpose of the meeting has already been well served.

This exchange proves to be particularly important for my country, since Turkey is situated at the crossroads of a host of conventional and asymmetrical risks and threats dominating a vast geography ranging from Balkans to the Middle East, from Black Sea and Mediterranean to the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Therefore, Turkey often finds itself dealing with a great diversity of issues affecting its own security and beyond, and tries to help generate peace and stability in this broad area.

While doing so, we, like many other members of the international community, rely on and resort to a wide range of tools, namely, mediation and preventive diplomacy, peacekeeping and post-conflict peacebuilding.

Indeed, Turkey has recently become particularly recognized for its active mediation and facilitation efforts. This is no coincidence, because we see such preventive efforts as the most cost-effective and efficient way of resolving potential and existing disputes. We also have the comparative advantage and capacity to do so. As such, we attach great importance to building and improving the preventive capacities of the international community.

In the case of on-going conflicts, on the other hand, we are a significant police and troop contributing country in many UN and international peacekeeping missions.

Moreover, we are actively involved in a broad range of peacebuilding activities, including development assistance schemes, with a view to helping create the conditions for sustainable peace.

The lessons we have drawn from these experiences can also shed some light on our discussion today.

First, starting with preventive diplomacy, the international community needs to better coordinate its activities. Given the multi-dimensional and indivisible nature of the current security environment, all major stakeholders need to collaborate among themselves.

And this should start from within the United Nations itself. The Security Council, in particular, must reach out to its partners within and outside the UN system and make better use of their comparative advantages in the pursuit of our shared objectives.

Secondly, the Council’s approach to peace and security should be of a more comprehensive and strategic nature. So far, there has been a tendency to use our operational tools in a more sequential fashion, in the order of preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping and post-conflict peacebuilding.

Our experience, however, suggests that pursuing such a uniform and linear sequence holds us back in each compartment and creates inefficiencies.

We should, instead, be able to forge an overarching political strategy placing all these tools within an integrated, coherent framework.

For instance, mediation and facilitation should not be merely seen as a way of reaching certain agreements. It is essential for these efforts to be sustained throughout the implementation of peace accords too.

Similarly, peacekeeping, which has become an increasingly complex and robust undertaking, should not be confined to stabilization operations carried out by police and military forces. In order to ensure lasting success, our peacekeeping mandates must incorporate an early and long-term peacebuilding perspective.

In this regard, the critical linkages between security and development, or between human rights, democracy and security should be taken into account.

The root causes of conflicts ought to be addressed early on, to create the conditions for sustainable peace and stability.

Likewise, the necessary civilian capacities with respect to good governance, the rule of law, human rights, economic and human development have to be improved both at the national and international level.

Finally, we have to admit that we operate on a rapidly evolving and somewhat unpredictable security environment. Indeed, the risks and threats facing us constantly change, requiring us to adapt our actions and responses accordingly.

Despite dedicated efforts, the Council has so far proven to be somewhat slow in adapting itself to changing circumstances.

In order to remedy this shortcoming, the Council needs to interact more with the non-member countries, in a more transparent and forward-looking manner. The Council should also endow itself with enhanced early warning and assessment capabilities, as well as flexible resourcing mechanisms.

There are many other related topics we might discuss in this context. But, in view of the time, let me stop here and reiterate my hope for this meeting to re-energize the Council’s efforts for peace and security.

In the unchartered waters of the 21st century, there is no doubt that we need a more effective Security Council to fulfill its primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.

Today’s debate demonstrated that this common objective is well within reach. We now need to take the necessary concrete steps to materialize it.

Turkey will always be a reliable partner of the Council and the international community in this just and noble drive.

Thank you for your attention. Now, let me resume my function as the President of the Security Council.