Turkey: 'UN reform needed'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a major reform of the UN Security Council to help resolve the ongoing conflict in Syria.

"If we wait for one or two of the permanent members ... then the future of Syria will be in danger," Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reported Erdogan as saying.

The prime minister was referring to China and Russia, two of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Both countries have vetoed three resolutions on Syria.

"It's time to change the structure of international institutions, starting with the UN Security Council," Erdogan said. "Wider, fairer and more effective representation is what's needed," he added.

"Nobody can claim that the UN Security Council is built upon a fair structure," the paper quoted him as saying. "We have left the world to the mercy of five permanent members - whatever they say happens."

The remarks came as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu began talks on Saturday with UN special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril about the ongoing conflict.

Further talks

The UN-Arab League envoy is due in Iran, a key Syria ally, on Sunday for talks with Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, before traveling to Iraq on Monday.

Brahimi is on a regional tour aimed at finding a solution to the conflict in Syria after President Bashar Assad rejected the UN's call to implement a unilateral ceasefire.

Downed jet

As the leaders' meeting continued into the night, Syrian rebels reportedly shot down an MiG fighter jet 10 kilometers (six miles) west of Aleppo near the village of Khan al-Asal, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the news agency AFP.

"The rebels shot down the fighter jet in the west of Aleppo province, where fierce battles are taking place," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the monitoring group.

jlw/mkg (dpa, AFP, AP)