Sixth Committee (Legal) — 70th session
Observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly (Agenda item 168)
- Authority: decision 69/527
Documentation
- A/66/141 — Letter dated 2 May 2011 from the Permanent Representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General; Observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly
Summary of work
Background (source: A/70/100)
By a letter dated 2 May 2011 (A/66/141) addressed to the Secretary-General, the Permanent Representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey to the United Nations requested the inclusion of this item in the provisional agenda of the sixty-sixth session.
At its sixty-sixth to sixty-ninth sessions, the General Assembly, on the recommendation of the Sixth Committee, decided to defer a decision on the request for observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the Assembly to its following sessions (decisions 66/527, 67/525, 68/528 and 69/527).
Consideration at the seventieth session
General statements were made by some delegations.
They reiterated that the requirements stated in General Assembly decision 49/426 of 9 December 1994 (that the granting of observer status in the Assembly should be confined to States and to those intergovernmental organizations whose activities cover matters of interest to the Assembly) must be present to grant observer status. They also noted that it was difficult to review a request without having access to the information regarding the full membership and the constitutive instrument of any requesting organization and sought dissemination of the constitutive instruments for those requests for which such information had yet to be received. It was stated that all the requests for observer status should not be discussed in a single meeting in order to have enough time for a thorough examination of the requests and to permit all delegations to be present for the debate.
The Sixth Committee considered agenda item 168 at its 10th, 11th and 29th meetings, on 19 October and 20 November 2015 (see A/C.6/70/SR.10, 11 and 29).
At the 10th meeting, on 19 October, the representative of Kazakhstan, on behalf of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, introduced a draft resolution entitled “Observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly” (A/C.6/70/L.4) and reiterated the view that the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States (CCTS) met the two criteria for the granting of observer status in the General Assembly established in Assembly decision 49/426. Under this draft resolution, the Assembly would decide to invite the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States to participate in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly in the capacity of observer; and request the Secretary-General to take the necessary action to implement the resolution.
Statements were made by the representatives of Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus and Armenia.
Some delegations supported the position taken by Kazakhstan and stressed that the granting of observer status to the CCTS would contribute to regional cooperation, solidarity and stability. It was stressed that the objectives of the Council were aligned with those of the United Nations and that the sponsors of the request had provided full information on the CCTS as per requests by delegations in previous years’ consideration of the request.
Some other delegations opposed the granting of observer status to the CCTS in the General Assembly and reiterated their reservations to the request. Though appreciation for the interactions undertaken with some of the sponsoring delegations on the item was expressed, concerns regarding the nature of the Council’s activities were reiterated. A point was made that some of its documents were not in line with the Charter of the United Nations and the withdrawal of the item from the agenda was recommended. It was also indicated that documents adopted by the Council continued to be inconsistent with resolutions adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations with respect to Cyprus, though it was hoped that substantial progress could be obtained that could enable a positive outcome in a future consideration of the item.
Action taken by the Sixth Committee
At the 29th meeting, on 20 November, statements were made by the representatives of Kazakhstan, Turkey, Cyprus and Armenia.
The representative of Kazakhstan announced, on behalf of the sponsors, that the sponsors would request the Committee to defer a decision on the request for observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly to the seventy-first session of the Assembly in order to have more time to achieve consensus on the item. Support for the observer status request of the CCTS was reiterated and regret that consensus on the issue had not been achieved was expressed.
Some other delegations stated that, despite ongoing consultations, their concerns over the granting of observer status to the CCTS remained, but that did not prejudge the outcome of future efforts to address their concerns.
At the same meeting, the Committee adopted, without a vote, a draft decision under which the General Assembly would decide to defer a decision on the request for observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly to the seventy-first session of the Assembly.
Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly
- Report of the Sixth Committee: A/70/530
- GA decision: 70/523 [for the text of the decision, see the Sixth Committee's report to the General Assembly]
This agenda item will be considered at the seventy-first session (2016).
