Page 346 - A Call for a Turkish-Islamic Union

A CALL FOR A TURKISH-ISLAMIC UNION

Civilization Becomes Importan
Civilization Becomes Important t
in International Relations s
in International Relation
The end of the cold war ended the "compulsory" division of
Muslims into two opposing political camps. Civilizations, in-
stead of political ideologies, have begun to gain ground. As
Samuel Huntington said, people were no longer defined by the
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question of "which side are you on?" but of "who are you?" For
many people, spread out from the Balkans to Central Asia, and
from the Far East to Africa, who previously had identified them-
selves as "socialist," "Yugoslav," "Soviet," "anti-communist," or
"nationalist," it became more important to determine which civi-
lization they represented.
Huntington's "clash of civilizations" theory, which expresses

this fact, is important in this regard. Huntington predicted that
the twenty-first century would be defined by civilizations, rather
than nation states or political groupings, and that the dominating
identity would be the "civilization" identity. And, he was right.
He also correctly predicted that these civilizations would be

based upon religion. However, he was wrong to suggest that
conflict would determine the relationship between civilizations,
for it is more likely that this relationship will be based upon
friendship and cooperation. To make this happen, all that
Huntington and others who think like him must do is to abandon
the biased Social Darwinist worldview that misdirects them.
The end of the cold war is not the only reason for the world

to be defined in terms of civilizations. Another important reason
is the fall of atheism and the rise of religion. These developments
are closely associated with the beginning of the collapse of the
materialist philosophies, due to new social and scientific discov-

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