Page 162 - A Call for a Turkish-Islamic Union

A CALL FOR A TURKISH-ISLAMIC UNION

The Islamic world has many issues that need to be resolved

and that are continuing problems for the international community:
such political tragedies as Palestine, Kashmir, and Iraq; the ideo-
logical war on terrorism; and such social issues as underdevelop-
ment, poverty, health, and education. These main topics are not re-
gional or local matters; rather, they have a direct bearing on all
Muslims. Given this reality, the Islamic world must achieve soli-
darity in order to resolve them. No one can suggest that what hap-
pens in Palestine concerns only the Palestinians, that the innocent
Muslim Kashmiri civilians suffering from oppression should sort

themselves out, or that starving
children in some Islamic country
are only the responsibility of the
country in question. Muslims
cannot accept this situation as a
matter of faith.
However, Muslims have

failed to form a strong alliance
among themselves and so
other—and non-Muslim—coun-
tries are offering solutions to
these and similar problems. The
proposed solutions, however,
do not have the Muslims' best
interest at heart, or else offer
only short-term solutions. In

many conflict-riven regions, the
Muslims' relative weakness pre-
vents them from having any real
voice at the negotiating table. In

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