Turkey failed to win a seat at the United Nations Security Council, after member states voted for countries to fill the organisation’s non-permanent seats on Thursday.
The five non-permanent seats were awarded to Venezuela, Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain.
Turkey, which had been reportedly lobbying heavily amongst member states, lost to Spain in the third round run-off of voting.
The state-run Anadolu Agency reported Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying,
“There may be some countries disturbed by our principled stance, and there have always been those, who, after some time, confess that Turkey’s position was right. So, we could not abandon our principles for the sake of getting more votes.”
The new members of the Security Council will begin their two-year appointment on 1 January 2015.
Venezuela, meanwhile, was unopposed in running for the Latin America and Caribbean seat.
Commenting on Venezuela’s election to the UN Security Council, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said,
"Unfortunately, Venezuela's conduct at the UN has run counter to the spirit of the UN Charter, and its violations of human rights at home are at odds with the Charter's letter."
The UN director of Human Rights Watch, Philippe Bolopion, also commented on the elections, saying,
"The Security Council's new membership could prove more problematic on human rights issues, with several generally rights-friendly countries leaving and others coming on board with poor voting records."
He went on to add,
"This is particularly true of Venezuela, which has consistently challenged protection efforts at the (U.N.) Human Rights Council, but also of Angola and Malaysia, which need to demonstrate a more human rights-oriented approach in New York than they did in Geneva."