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UN Security Council Reform: Veto Right for Turkey and the Muslim World

[ Posted On: 2007-11-20 ]

In six earlier articles, we referred to the three-day deliberations (on the impending UN reforms) that have been concluded on November 14th in the UN General Assembly. We briefly analyzed the historical developments that have produced an extraordinarily different international environment over the past 65 years, and we insisted on the importance of the values and principles declared in Charter of the UN for the forthcoming reform. We then called for a more representative UN Security Council able to reflect today's world, and pertinently address the overwhelming aspirations for Humanism, Democracy, Freedom, Justice, and respect of the Human Rights.

We subsequently advocated for Japan, India, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico, as additional UN Security Council Permanent Members for historical, political, and economic reasons. We include here the links to three articles:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=43169

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=43175

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=43181

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=43225

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=43245

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=43346

In the present article, we will go on, advocating for a more representative UN Security Council, suggesting Veto Right for Turkey as the Muslim World's only suitable candidate.

The Islamic World: Equally Present in the UN Security Council – or Alienated

The quest for a more representative UN Security Council does not end with the extension of the Veto right to Japan, India, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico. As we said in the last of the series, a UN Security Council with the incumbent five (5) and the herewith suggested six (6) additional members, so eleven (11) members in total, would certainly be more representative, reaching a degree of representativeness of about two thirds (2/3) of the world's population.

This shows automatically that a sizeable part of our world would be left out. The largest part of the world's non represented (through the aforementioned eleven) countries would be the entire Muslim World. In terms of states, the Organization of the Islamic Conference consists of 57 members, which shows that no less than 30% of the world's existing states are Muslim. In terms of population, totaling ca. 1.5 b people, Muslims today represent one fourth (1/4) of the world.

Certainly, India is home to ca. 10% of the world's Muslims, but no one would possibly accept that India in the UN Security Council would represent the Indian Muslims in particular. More specifically, in the light of recent clashes between India's Muslims and Hindus, it would be impossible to accept that India may be taken as possible representative of the Muslim World. This statement does not express any resentment toward India, as tensions exist in several European countries as well. In India, Muslims amount to ca. 15% of the total population. Closer example is then France with 10% of its population being Muslim. Who would suggest that France may possibly represent the Muslim World in the UN Security Council?

Certainly the World of Islam represents a great variety of nations, cultures and languages, and only the colonial falsifications of the French and the English academia still insist on the absolutely erroneous, and deeply racist term 'Islamo-Arabic' or 'Arabo-Musulman'. Arabic speaking people represent far less than 15% of today's Islamic World, and even worse, they are a pure colonial fabrication geared to spread confusion and despair, underdevelopment and ignorance among the Berbers (in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania), the Copts (Egyptians), the Nubians, the African Kushites of Sudan, the Yemenites (Semites but non-Arabic), and the Aramaeans (in Syria, Iraq, SE Turkey, SW Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the Emirates).

For further expansion on the subject, see the following articles: "Pan-Arabism: the Inhuman Progenitor of Islamic Terrorism" - (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=41610), "The Secret Reasons of the Darfur Genocide: fake Arabic imposed on Non-Arabs" - (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=17560) and "Modern Arabic: the Anglo-French Tool of Islamic Terrorism Promotion" -
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=17075).

Certainly the Islamic World and Africa are partly overlapping, but a very significant part of Africa has no connection with Islam, being relevant of traditional African religions and/or various Christian denominations. We therefore could not afford to opt for just one representative of the two worlds. Even worse, there is not a single African Muslim country to possibly meet the acceptable and convincing criteria of UN Security Council permanent membership eligibility.

Through a historical analysis, we can draw the conclusion that, following the colonization of America, the Islamic world and Africa became the targets of the European colonial powers, and were colonized to great extent. This contributed partly to the reasons of the inability we attest in most of the Muslim and African countries to progress and adequately form socio-economically developed democratic societies.

Furthermore, in most of the cases, National Independence is a recent phenomenon, if we compare these countries with Latin America. Not only did National Independence come very late, but it also became possible after a definitely traumatic experience, worsening thus the prospect development.

With the exception of the part of the Ottoman Empire that gave birth to the Modern Turkey, and leaving out Iran, all the rest of the Islamic world was divided among the colonial powers, namely France, England, Holland, Russia and Italy. As far as Africa is concerned, only tiny Abyssinia (falsely called Ethiopia) and Liberia were not colonized.

In both cases, the Islamic world and Africa, the de-colonization procedure led to unprecedented split and political division. It is therefore only normal that - either within the context of the Islamic world or in Africa - one cannot find a country as large as Brazil, as populous as India, and as rich as Italy.

Pondering about the selection of a Muslim country as UN Security Council permanent member, we have to first bear in mind the basic criteria that we stated in earlier articles, namely the following:

The Criteria for the UN Reform

A. Population – it cannot be under 40 million people.

B. Economic Power – it cannot be under US$ 400 b (GDP).

C. Democratic Administration,

D. Social and Technological Development,

E. Cultural and Religious Identity,

F. Surface – it cannot be under 100000 km2, and

G. Literacy – it cannot be under 60% of the total population of a country.

We thus have to conclude that the 'Vicar of the Islamic World' at the UN must be a sizeable, developed, highly literate and educated, modern, secular, and democratic country; we cannot afford to contribute to the expansion of the Islamic Extremism, by selecting a barbaric and analphabetic realm ruled by hereditary tyrants, colonels, and the lunatic and hysterical sheikhs of impoverished countries.

Turkey vs. Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt and Iran

Overall economic performance (GDP)

Socio-economic development is a prerequisite in our world; it consists in a basic concern and target for almost all the democratic governments. As such, it can be viewed as a significant political ideological criterion.

At this point, we have however to discuss to some extent the relativity of the GDP, as a solid and absolute criterion. Nazi Germany and the USSR achieved memorably successful performance records for many years, but they hardly represented an international model state and/or society.

Totalitarian societies at times do their best to underscore their success in terms of overall economic performance (GDP); however, this only adds to their antidemocratic character.

Stakhanovism is the best proof of the dramas of a very problematic society; it does not consist in a real achievement! An undemocratic and economically over-performing country is a grave problem of our world. China is the best example in this regard. Believing that China's further integration with the global economy will possibly change the totalitarian Asiatic giant consists in sheer aberration.

If we had had to reserve UN Security Council permanent membership to democratic countries exclusively, China and Russia would have been automatically out. This problem highlights precisely the problems we inherited from a far worse period, the world of the 1930s and 1940s. A resolute approach and Realpolitik in this regard hinge on

a. containment, and

b. proper tackling of the problems caused by China's and Russia's presence in the UN Security Council as permanent members.

Without becoming China's advocate, we have to specify at this point that China was accepted as Security Council permanent member at a moment when the vast Asiatic country was not yet ruled by a totalitarian Communist regime. In addition, the world's most populated country managed meanwhile to become the world's second largest economy, and the world's third strongest trade partner.

Proper tackling in the cases of China and Russia would signify immediate help and resolute assistance to the numerous oppressed nations of the two Asiatic countries. Normal consequence of one people's struggle for Independence and Democracy is the further diffusion of the desire for freedom among other peoples comprised within the borders of a tyranny.

Containment means commitment to closing the door of the UN Security Council to every other undemocratic country and society of our times. This point clearly demonstrates why the US administration should not be reluctant to UN Security Council enlargement, and underscores the reasons for which the US Secretary of State should feel more comfortably if surrounded in the UN Security Council by also her counterparts from Japan, India, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico as Veto powers. A ratio 8 (or 9) vs. 2 is certainly better than the current one 2 (or 3) vs. 2! It means of course a completely different environment, but this environment would be far more difficult for China and Russia.

Keeping out of the UN Security Council undemocratic realms plunged in underdevelopment, illiteracy, ignorance, extremism, hatred, and disrespect of Human Rights is essential.

As far as the Islamic World's five most populated countries are concerned, illiteracy, ignorance, poverty, and underdevelopment are matched with undemocratic establishments, religious fanaticism, and unacceptable social structures of sheer barbarism that must sooner or later be eradicated.

Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Egypt total 766 m people, with 235 m, 165 m, 151 m, 135 m, and 80 m people respectively. Their participation in the global economy is however insignificant, and indicative of underdevelopment, stagnation, and critically problematic socio-economic and socio-political infrastructures. The GDP of Indonesia (US $ 948 b), Pakistan (US $ 437 b), Bangladesh (US $ 336 b), Nigeria (US $ 191 b), and Egypt (US $ 334 b) combined (US $ 2246 b) is slightly larger than England's (US $ 1928 b), although the five countries' total population is more than twelve (12) times larger than England's!

If we compare the aforementioned five countries with Turkey, which is the Islamic World's sixth largest country in terms of population, we clearly understand how far behind they are left at the socio-economic level. Turkey's GDP (US $ 640 b) is equivalent to two thirds (2/3) of Indonesia's, although the latter has a population almost four times larger than Turkey's (72 m people). Even worse for the SE Asian insular nation, its GDP real growth rate (5.5%) is lower than Turkey's (6.1%).

Pakistan's and Bangladesh's GDP combined (US $ 437 b and 334 b: 771 b) is slightly larger than Turkey's, although the two Muslim states of the Subcontinent have a population (316 m people) 4.5 times larger than Turkey's.

Comparing Africa's two largest Muslim countries, Nigeria and Egypt, we are met with a more marked difference, to the detriment of the African states; although their combined population (215 m people) is three (3) times larger than Turkey's, their combined GDP (US $ 191 b and 334 b: 525 b) is equivalent to only 80% of Turkey's.

Per capita GDP

To properly evaluate a country's development, per capita GDP is a key economic indicator. It can be reconfirmed through other indicators that highlight a country's technological progress, namely mobile telephony penetration and Internet penetration.

Of course, a small country with either rich natural resources or great commitment to high tech development and free trade can achieve more easily a high per capita GDP; quite indicatively, among the world's top 15 countries as regards per capita GDP, there is only one country with population larger than 10 million people (USA).

Within the Islamic World, higher per capita GDP is achieved among countries with small population, namely UAE (US $ 49700), Qatar (US $ 29800), Bahrain (US $ 25600), Brunei (US $ 25600), Kuwait (US $ 23100), and Oman (US $ 14400).

Among Muslim countries with population larger than 10 million people, Turkey has the second highest per capita GDP (US $ 9100), following Saudi Arabia (US $ 13800). Already EU member candidate, the bi-continental country leads Tunisia (US $ 8900), Iran (US $ 8700), Turkmenistan (US $ 8500), Algeria (US $ 7600), and Azerbaijan (US $ 7500). Then follow the (unrecognized) Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Lebanon, both at the level of (Europe's bottom) Albania, and then all the rest!

Participation in the World Trade

Taking active part in the world trade necessitates liberal economy and proper dismantling of all the state run economy's structures. To proceed so, a country has to establish first a democratic, representative parliamentarian system, which means abolition of autocracies, theocracies and fake leadership personal cults.

With exports totaling US $92 b, Turkey is the world's 33rd exporter, but within the Islamic world, it is the 4th exporter, after the oil-exporters Saudi Arabia (US $208 b – of which 90% is due to exclusively petroleum and petroleum related products) and UAE (US 142 b – of which 45% is just crude oil, and the rest's largest part is natural gas and re-exports), and the most populated Muslim country Indonesia (US $103 b – of which the largest part is also due to oil and gas exports).

Among the Muslim World's most populated countries, in terms of exports' volume, Turkey leads Iran (US $ 66.6 b), Kuwait (US $ 58.6 b), Nigeria (US $ 57.4 b), Algeria (US $ 53.8 b), Libya (US $ 33.6 b), Qatar (US $ 30 b), Iraq (US $ 28 b), Oman (US $ 21 b), Egypt (US $ 20 b), Pakistan (US $ 17 b), and all the rest.

Quite indicatively, with a combined population totaling 531 m people (i.e. 7.5 times larger than Turkey's), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Egypt export (ca. US $ 105 b) slightly more than the EU candidate member state.

Quite indicatively, and with respect to other rightful candidates to UN Security Council permanent membership, Brazil's exports (US $ 138 b) are 50% larger than Turkey's, although the South American giant is almost 3 times larger in terms of population than Turkey.

When it comes to imports, Turkey leads all the Muslim countries, being no 23rd importer in the world (US $ 132 b). Turkey's imports are larger than Brazil's (US $ 91.3 b), and – within the Muslim World – Turkey dwarfs the UAE (US $ 85 b), Indonesia (US $ 73 b), and Saudi Arabia (US $ 64 b).

Governmental Budget

With US $ 120 b as revenues and ca. US $ 123 b as expenditures, Turkey leads all the other large Muslim countries, except oil-rich Saudi Arabia (US $ 175 b - US $ 104 b respectively). Only Iran's governmental budget is comparable to Turkey's (US $ 111 b - US $ 93 b respectively).

The Muslim world's largest countries' governments, Indonesia (US $ 74 b - US $ 77 b respectively), Egypt (US $ 27 b - US $ 35.5 b respectively), Nigeria (US $ 17.5 b - US $ 18.7 b respectively), Pakistan (US $ 16 b - US $ 25 b respectively), and Bangladesh (US $ 6.6 b - US $ 9 b respectively), have very limited resources, when compared to both, Turkey and Iran.

Oil-rich but tiny country (4.4 m people), the UAE has far stronger budget (US $ 54.6 b - US $ 35 b respectively) than four of the aforementioned five countries.

Technological development

Turkey had better infrastructure than all the other Muslim countries, already in the 1940s, and 1950s, in the middle of the 20th century.

Although Turkey's surface (780000 km2) is smaller than Iran's (1.7 m km2) or Egypt's (1 m km2) territories, the Euro-Asiatic country has larger railway network (8697 km, compared to Iran's 8367 km, or Egypt's 5063 km), and larger paved highway network (177550 km, compared to Iran's 120782 km, or Egypt's 74820 km).

When it comes to high-tech, the Turkish advance becomes dramatic.

In terms of fixed telephony, Turkey (19 m subscribers) is second to Iran (21.9 m subscribers), and leads Indonesia (14 m subscribers), Egypt (10.8 m subscribers), Pakistan (5.2 m subscribers), Nigeria (1.7 m subscribers) and Bangladesh (1.1 m subscribers).

With respect to mobile telephony, Turkey (52.7 million mobile line users) is close 3rd to Indonesia (63.8 million mobile line users) and Pakistan (63 million mobile line users), despite the extreme numeric superiority of these two countries in terms of population. Turkey dwarfs Nigeria (32 million mobile line users), Bangladesh (19 million mobile line users), Egypt (18 million mobile line users), and Iran (13.6 million mobile line users)

With 16.5 million Internet users, Turkey is second only to Iran (18 million Internet users), leading Indonesia (16 million Internet users), Pakistan (12 million Internet users), Nigeria (8 million Internet users), Egypt (6 million Internet users) and Bangladesh (52.7 million Internet users).

Democratic system, Human Rights, Minority Rights, Literacy and Education

Nations cultivating sex, ethnic, and religious discrimination have by definition no right to permanent membership in the UN Security Council. When foreign workers are denied basic international labor rights, although forming a large portion of the inhabitants, and women are treated as almost animals, deprived from basic political rights, we are clearly in front of a dangerous situation that risks spreading around, if not thoroughly contained.

In countries like this, 'tolerance' is an unknown word, and the political decision making process is a small family affair. Yet, the money may be there! These tyrannical and semi-barbaric societies reflect the primitivism of the mobile user and BMW owner, who never heard (let alone heard) of Shakespeare, Voltaire, Mozart, and Dante (as well as of their Islamic counterparts).

This primitivism is definitely incompatible with Democracy, as the theoretical foundations of the modern Western societies do not tolerate barbarism. This is the reason Democracy finds many obstacles in its path, even in small and wealthy states, being impossible to implement in Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, and Bahrain. The difference between New Zealand and Kuwait, Norway and the Emirates, or Malta and Qatar is not economic: it is educational, cultural, and theoretical - political.

Conclusions

Having gone through the aforementioned points, we can safely claim that in the same way Spain – a fascist, and anachronistic structure in 1945 – could not possibly be then selected for UN Security Council permanent membership, the six underdeveloped, anachronistic and dysfunctional societies and countries, namely Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt and Iran, are unquestionably out of any discussion for this position in the year 2007.

Their poor or at times tragic Human Rights record, their deficiency in basics of modern democratic and humanistic politics, the deep involvement of their military in the politics, the criminal embrace of all aspects of social, artistic and intellectual life by non institutionalized - and therefore uncontrolled - religious groups, their underdevelopment - due to prevailing anachronistic and erroneous conceptions of god, religion, Mankind and Progress -, their unprecedented failure in propagating among them the humano-centric ideas, principles and concepts of our modern world are reasons strong enough to deprive them from any eligibility right for UN Security Council permanent membership.

Turkey for UN Security Council Permanent Membership

Contrarily to the aforementioned countries and other - covered or uncovered -theocracies, Turkey is the only Muslim country to have established – already 85 years ago – a secular society and a laic educational and cultural system that match totally with the country's strong republican commitment, which took even a Jacobin dimension as the military have played the role of the 'vicars' of the democratic, multipartite since 1938, system. This has however been limited drastically over the past few years.

Women's rights were promoted since the famous Kastamonu meeting (1923) and the social-political integration of women in Turkey was more rapid than in France; women voted and were voted for parliamentary elections in Turkey four (4) years before they were able to exercise similar rights in France.

Certainly, the Turkish nationalistic character of the Kemalist state was a burden for the various minorities of the country, the Aramaeans of the Tur Abdin, Mardin and Nusaybin, the Kurds of Diyarbakir, Urfa , Van, Erzurum and Hakkari, the Armenians, the Georgians, and the Greeks.

Among them, only the Kurds are truly numerous, but today's Turkey advances at great speed towards a fully pledged multicultural society, and the nature itself of the modern Turkish language will help greatly in this direction.

In this regard, it is to be noted that around a nucleus of Turkish Grammar, Syntax, and Vocabulary, the modern Turkish linguistic treasure encompasses numerous words from Farsi, French, Greek, Kurdish, and Arabic, making therefore of the average educated Turk (literacy 87.4% - a very high rate if compared with Iran and Egypt) a very open-minded, at the same time Occidental and Oriental, citizen of the world.

If we truly consider the Islamic terrorism as a most preoccupying subject, then an international recognition and promotion of Turkey (willfully hated by the illiterate, fanatic and inane sheikhs of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, and Pakistan) will clearly demonstrate to the worst enemies of Democracy, Humanism and Progress that the future does not belong to their erroneous version of Islam.

If the world needs a human and humanist Islam, incorporated within a modern secular Muslim society where the Islamic principles are kept in the hearts of the people,

- without the imposition of the veil (hedjab) on the women,

- without the prohibition of alcohol,

- without the obligatory, yet hypocritical as not believed in, 'prayers' performed during the working hours at the workplaces,

- without the meaningless imposition of Friday as weekend,

- without any social prejudice against women and gay people,

- without the social dictatorship of religious militias (who interfere in the privacy of any single person's life),

- without the false, racist, and antihuman education offered in the backward countries according to sheikhs' prescriptions,

then, we need Turkey to represent Islam within the Security Council and to be promoted to UN Security Council Permanent Membership.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, Islamologist, Historian and Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 49, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.

| View Profile & All Articles By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis |

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