Page 326 - A Call for a Turkish-Islamic Union

A CALL FOR A TURKISH-ISLAMIC UNION

the war on terrorism). This figure is greater than the combined
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military expenditures of all G8 countries. Next comes Russia
49
($60 billion) and China ($42 billion). Furthermore, America has
military bases in over 40 countries and a smaller or larger mili-
tary presence in 132 out of the 190 member states of the UN.
Military aid to foreign countries is a significant cost factor in the
budgets of Western countries, particularly in the case of America.
It can be assumed that America's economy can easily absorb
such a huge defense budget, but figures reveal that that this ex-
penditure has a considerably negative effect. Consider the fol-

lowing facts: Right now in America, 31 million people—includ-
ing 12 million children— live under the poverty line; 3% of US
households experience hunger and 7% of US households are at
risk of hunger; and a great proportion of them do not receive any
state aid. Since 1994, aid to such people has decreased by a third. 50
These figures demonstrate the urgency of bringing peace to
the world in order to reduce the amount of resources swallowed

up by defense budgets. The Turkish Islamic Union will end all

It will be proper and conscientious to divert that part of the budget allo-
cated to weaponry to the education of children and poverty.

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