Page 334 - A Call for a Turkish-Islamic Union
P. 334
A CALL FOR A TURKISH-ISLAMIC UNION
The West's Responsibilities
The West's Responsibilities
Every country develops and follows a foreign policy with its
own interests at heart in an attempt to benefit its people and its na-
tion's future. However, this is done with the understanding that no
country transgresses against or harms the interests of another. The
same is true for the West's relationship with Muslim countries.
From time to time, some Western countries develop policies in re-
lation to the Islamic world that have nothing but their own interests
at heart, even at the cost of the Islamic world's most basic needs.
This, in turn, creates anti-Western sentiments among certain circles
of Muslims and a mutual distrust and anxiety between civiliza-
tions. In reality, both parties' fears and worries can be resolved.
However, this requires Western governments, particularly
the American, to be wary of certain powerful circles' influence
and desire for a clash of civilizations. These circles can be defined
as follows:
1- Hardliners with a Social Darwinist Perspective
This mentality, which considers non-Western civilizations to
be primitive, was the dominant view in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. Supposedly, it was scientifically justified by
Darwin's theory of evolution; however, in reality, it is a remnant of
colonialism. As we know, Darwin claimed that humanity and apes
evolved from the same ancestor and that there were great differ-
ences between the races, for some were highly evolved while oth-
ers were still "half-apes."
This theory was widely recognized at the time of its formula-
tion, but has been disproved by the strong scientific data obtained
over the past few decades. Western imperialists used Darwin's so-
called scientific claims to justify their exploitation and even en-
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