United we stand, divided we fall
Opinion by Süleyman Demirel, the ninth president of Turkey, TDN Guest Writer
September 12, 2006
Turkish Daily News
When Eisenhower Fellowships were founded in 1953, the chill of the Cold War was just beginning to be felt across the world. Even though the nature and the scope of the challenges and threats of today are completely different, the strain that they put on global security and stability is no less significant.
In today's increasingly global world where armed conflict continues to be a menace; terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, organized crime, poverty, infectious diseases and environmental degradation have become the main threats faced by the international community.
Some describe the current fabric of international relations as a post-Westphalian world in which nation-states must accept international intrusion into their domestic affairs.
In today's world of porous national borders, foreign and domestic policy is certainly ever more intertwined. Instant communications alongside affordable travel mean that every country is affected by developments that occur not just in its neighborhood but much further away.
Another novelty is that the center of geostrategic gravity is shifting eastwards. Relationships with China and India have already moved from the margins to the center of foreign policy in many countries. In due course, other emerging countries will join them.
The question here is how the rise of these powers may change the global balance of power and how this will affect the international order. This question will certainly be one of the main topics of discussion in the period ahead.
The issue of Iran's nuclear program, the precarious situation in Iraq and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East are also factors that focus attention eastwards.
Today, the situation in the Middle East keeps every statesman awake at night, regardless of country or region.
In today's world, security is indivisible and one missing link in the chain can jeopardize the security and stability of the entire world. What is more, the conflicts between the parties of the region, be they states or groups, have repercussions that extend far beyond their immediate neighborhood.
The inability of the international community to find a just and lasting solution to the simmering disputes of the region is feeding tensions even in countries that are not directly involved in them.
The longer the conflicts in the Middle East remain unsettled, the more they endanger regional and global peace and security, and above all, poison mutual understanding, tolerance and harmony. Therefore, it would be a mistake to see the recent crisis in the Middle East just as a local conflict involving a limited number of countries. Its ramifications are widespread.
We all witnessed the latest hostilities involving Lebanon, Israel and Palestine where civilians took the brunt of the misery. As live images of the carnage and destruction caused by the mutual attacks are broadcast into every household thanks to the ever-developing means of mass communication, every person in the world has inadvertently become part of the war scene. There is no escape from this reality.
The daily ration of horror invading living rooms around the world has provoked different reactions in different countries. While bombs and rockets were ferociously being exchanged, an opinion poll in Israel found that 81 percent of Israelis supported the attack on Lebanon, and a similar poll in Lebanon showed the support for Hezbollah above 80 percent. Another poll by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, a Palestinian research body, found that 77 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza supported Israeli corporal Shalit's abduction, which ostensibly sparked off the aggression in the region and 67 percent thought that such tactics should be used more frequently.
A more recent poll conducted by USA Today/Gallup showed that eight out of 10 Americans believed that Israel's action was justified. Another survey taken by Pew Global Attitudes between March and May found that 48 percent of Americans said that their sympathies lay with the Israelis, while only 13 percent were sympathetic towards the Palestinians. In contrast, in Spain for example, 9 percent sympathized with the Israelis and 32 percent with the Palestinians.
What do these numbers mean?
They mean that the gap is widening. Mutual understanding and empathy are in danger of falling victim to sectarianism. They also mean that opinions differ even among communities that share the same culture. There is no monolithic stance on the basis of culture and creed.
This reminds me of the famous words of our visionary leader Kemal Atatürk: “Even though countries are various, civilization is one.” If left unchecked, these adverse trends could only play into the hands of those who think that there is more than one civilization and that a clash between them is inevitable.
The recently foiled terrorist plot targeting transatlantic flights from Britain is another reminder that radical terrorism is still out there feeding on misunderstanding and intolerance.
So what should be done?
To eliminate the symptoms, we should deal with the root causes head on and collectively. We should focus on fighting poverty, disease and injustice as well as relieving points of tension.
In this vein, we should exert ever more efforts for a just and viable settlement to the Palestinian issue, with a perspective of an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel, both within secure and recognized boundaries.
On a wider scale, we should demonstrate that there is only one civilization for all of mankind. And if there is any clash, it is not between civilizations but about civilization. It is the age-old battle between progress and reaction, between those who embrace universal values and those who reject them.
Therefore, we should also demonstrate that it is indeed modern universal values such as the rule of law, democracy, human rights, good governance, transparency and accountability that are binding us all, not some dogmas.
In this respect, the opening of the EU accession negotiations with Turkey was a powerful signal that having a different faith is no barrier to membership and that the European Union does not see itself as some exclusive Christian club.
Indeed, Turkey's full membership in the European Union will be an antidote disarming clash theories by showing that concepts like “the West” and “Europe” are not set by ethnicity or religion but common values. It was Samuel Huntington himself who said in 1993, in his famous article on the clash of civilizations, that “the European Community rests on the shared foundation of European culture and Western Christianity. …Turkey will not become a member of the European Community, and the real reason is that Turkish people are Muslim.”
I will leave it to you to decide whether the world will become a safer and better place if Huntington's prophecy proves to be right or whether the opposite is true.
The 21st century came not only with new threats but also with new opportunities. The challenges in front of us are formidable. But there is also room for optimism. Our world has shrunk. Economic globalization has accelerated, driven by advances in information and communication technology and the emergence of major economies, especially in Asia.
The international flows of goods, services, money, knowledge and people offer huge scope for progress, generating new commercial opportunities and lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty.
As the boundaries of our world have contracted, the objective of achieving a single global market is now even nearer. The invention of the Internet browser has dramatically increased the universal sharing of information. The emergence of “work-flow” software has enabled people to conduct commerce from remote locations. Outsourcing of off-site services, such as answering phone calls, around the globe and “off-shoring” factories to places like China have lowered costs for consumers and helped the developing economies of these countries. While powerful search engines have made our world even smaller, the emergence of handheld devices and wireless communication has radically increased flexibility and mobility. All of these innovations enormously facilitate building bridges across any cultural, political, religious and economic divisions.
At this juncture, while our world is passing through difficult waters where the “clash” theories is rampant, we should definitely take full advantage of the opportunities offered by our age.
We should use them in reaching out to the less advantaged and dealing with economic inequalities between and within countries.
We should use them to make peoples of different identities better understand each other.
We should use them to see that the common interest of mankind is one and that it lies in cooperation, not in confrontation.
We should use them to show that strength comes through unity, not through chaos because, as the famous philosopher Will Duant once said, “Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos.”
We cannot let that happen.
United we stand, divided we fall.
* This article by Turkey's ninth president, Süleyman Demirel, was prepared from an opening statement he delivered on Monday at the Eisenhower Fellowships Foundation's meeting in Istanbul.