PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkey going to become permanent UN Security Council member
07.06.2008 15:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ It has been nearly 50 years since
Turkey last served on the Security Council. In 2008,
it will compete against Austria and Iceland for one of
the two seats reserved for the -Western Europe and
Others- group. In support of this campaign, Ankara has
presented its strategic position between Islam and the
West. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken
of Turkey’s unique role in -bringing religions and
culture closer together to avoid a global clash of
civilizations,- John Feffer, an expert on military
policy and Asia, writes in Turkish Policy Quarterly,
the Guide to Turkey’s Political Outlook.

-Over the last five years, Turkey has lobbied hard to
gather support from more than 100 countries. In 2005,
it joined Spain in creating the Alliance of
Civilizations under the auspices of the UN to address
the major polarizing tendencies within the
international community.

-Turkey wants a slot on the Security Council for
several reasons. It would confer immeasurable prestige
upon the country and provide the international
political correlative to Turkey’s status as the 17th
large economy in the world. It would strengthen
Turkey’s position within the Muslim world. And it
would improve Turkey’s case for membership in the
European Union – a far greater challenge – by helping
to overcome some European concerns that Turkey is
somehow not part of the West.

-Until recently the idea that Turkey could serve as a
bridge across this new post-Cold War religious divide
would have been preposterous, given its inability to
resolve the conflicts in Cyprus, with Armenia, and
domestically among different confessions. But Turkey
has recently improved its bridge-building skills at
home and abroad. Will a seat on the Security Council
provide Turkey greater latitude to play this role, or
is such a high-level acknowledgment of its mediating
capacities and intentions premature? As importantly,
perhaps, would a rotation on the Security Council
change Turkey as much as Turkey hopes to change the
world?

-Turkey aspires to a new global role. By all means, it
should be invited back to serve on the Security
Council – for all that Turkey can contribute to the
world and for all that such global responsibilities
can contribute to Turkey,- the essay reads.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress