ISLAMIC NATIONS NEED ‘UNITED STANCE’ TO BECOME A GLOBAL FORCE

Hurriyet Daily News
Thursday, January 28, 2010

Turkey and other countries in the Islamic world need to change their
Cold War-era outlook if they want to play a prominent role in the
future, according to the message delivered at a forum in Istanbul.

The three-day meeting, titled "Peaceful Civilization and Cooperation,"
opened with a strong call to forge a common stance in the new world
order. The forum has been organized by the Turkish Asian Center for
Strategic Studies, or TACSS, an Ankara-based think-tank.

TACSS chairman Suleyman Å~^ensoy warned that Turkey and other Islamic
countries need to overcome the barrier of the mentalities they held
during the Cold War era.

"If they continue with their current perceptions, Islamic countries
will be unable to forge a claim for themselves for the next five
decades or 100 years while power is shared in the new world order,"
he said.

According to Å~^ensoy, this transformation period, in which a new
world order is being created, also provides new opportunities for
more cooperation among the member states of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference, or OIC.

"The Islamic world did not have a common culture to take a joint step
during the Cold War era, because they needed to balance their policies
according to principles of their own blocs. This new era has provided
a chance for new cooperation in the Islamic world," Å~^ensoy said.

The situation is not all optimistic, however. "Our world is going
through a very complicated period where the fault line between the
Muslim world and the Western world is becoming more visible and even
cracking," said Professor Ekmeleddin Ä°hsanoglu, the secretary-general
of the OIC. "New world powers are emerging, and problems related to
underdevelopment are plaguing many parts of the Muslim world while
extremism and violence are on the rise."

A political figure from Russia agreed that today’s world does not
have a peaceful order.

"We have growing potential for conflict all over the world. The number
of conflicts is growing. At the same time, there is a general trend
to employ force rather than peaceful political methods to resolve
this conflict," said Valery Dimitrievich Nikolaenko, a former Russian
deputy foreign minister.

Nikolaenko, who is also the deputy dean of the Russian Foreign
Ministry’s Diplomacy Academy, said the multi-polar world order has
provided regional organizations with more power and more roles,
and that their leaders have tried to play increasing roles in the
solving of problems.

"The regional powers and organizations want to resolve their issues
by themselves, without interference from outside. This gives bigger
potential to Islamic countries and Islamic organizations such as the
OIC," he said.

"We in Russia are trying to be friends with Islamic countries. We are
aware of the political and economic importance of the Islamic world,"
Nikolaenko added. "We should cooperate to solve conflicts. We should
work to build peaceful civilization and cooperation."

A politician from the Turkish Cypriot administration called on Islamic
countries to take braver steps to end the isolation of northern
Cyprus and for all sanctions against Turkish Cypriots to be removed
unconditionally.

"The Islamic world should be united and take a common stance for
the sanctions to be removed unconditionally. It is time for Muslim
states to act jointly. We are now more hopeful as a result of Turkey’s
improved relations with Muslim countries," said Hakkı Altun, a former
deputy prime minister of northern Cyprus.

An official from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said the Istanbul
meeting was an opportunity to discuss and share views about wider
issues that concern not only Islamic countries, but the entire
international community.

"We hope to gain the support and assistance of international
organizations of Islamic countries as well as international forces
like the United Nations to solve the Karabakh conflict," said Hussein
Husseinov, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s secretary for political
affairs to the European Union, referring to the ongoing dispute between
his country and Armenia. "It can be solved through more coordinated
efforts led by the Islamic countries and specifically Turkey."