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ANKARA: OIC to be Determining Force in New World Order

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  • ANKARA: OIC to be Determining Force in New World Order

    Zaman, Turkey
    June 15 2004

    EKMELEDDIN IHSANOGLU
    [COMMENTARY]

    OIC to be Determining Force in New World Order


    As evidenced by the agenda topics of the 31st Islamic Countries
    Foreign Ministers Conference in Istanbul, the 35-year old
    Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) looks at the main issues
    concerning world societies across a wide spectrum.

    Today, the OIC is developing to harmonize with the ever-changing
    conditions of the world. When this organization's experiences to date
    are taken into consideration, some unique qualities that distinguish
    it from other international institutions have emerged. Undoubtedly,
    these characteristics will play a role in operations today and in the
    future.

    One of the greatest innovations of the 21st century in the arena of
    international affairs is the establishment of international
    organizations with missions of cooperation and their gradual
    acceptance of important roles. In addition to the United Nations,
    small scale regional integrations have been established among
    countries that are dealing with common problems or have similar or
    close standing in terms of geographical position as well as political
    problems and development paths.

    One of the reasons for this is that an imbalance in the interests and
    trade among countries that are playing an effective role in world
    politics and an imbalance between industrialized and developing
    countries has become more apparent. As such, the idea of cooperation
    among developing countries is increasingly gaining importance.
    Therefore, regional groups or institutions formed by countries that
    can unite around geographical proximity, complementary economies and
    other qualities have turned out to be indispensable elements of
    foreign relations for these countries.

    Even though the OIC, established in 1969, is not very different from
    other international and regional institutions and the United Nations
    system in terms of structure, it has some unique qualities in terms
    of basics, purpose and design. The term 'Islamic countries' in
    general is used for countries with a Muslim majority population and,
    in some other cases, for countries that describe the identity of
    their people as Muslim. Islamic countries spread throughout Africa,
    the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and South
    America. Today's Islamic world consists of countries that are making
    efforts toward development. Islamic countries that have secured
    independence have become members of the United Nations and other
    international organizations and, at the same time, have formed
    regional institutions such as the Arab League and the Africa Union
    later. In addition, some of them have taken place in the Cold War
    block and some in the Non-Aligned countries movement. In 1969, the
    OIC was established to incorporate different regions of Islamic
    geography with nearly 25 countries mostly populated with Muslims,
    including Turkey. The bonding element in its establishment is that
    member countries have a common religion and similar cultures. Its
    first reason being formed on the other side, is the solution of
    common problems, primarily the Jerusalem and Palestinian issue, in
    solidarity.

    Along with being the only international organization gathered around
    the notion of a common culture and civilization, another unique
    characteristic of the OIC is that the goals of the organization over
    the past 35 years have varied a great deal and expanded considerably
    to include all the issues emerging in the world and of interest to
    member countries on the organization's agenda. At the same time, its
    membership has increased continuously to 57 as of 2004. One of the
    important factors that play a role in this is that Muslim populated
    countries are declaring their independence with the collapse of the
    Soviet Union and other socialist states. The expansions of the
    Soviets in the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Balkans and Southeastern
    Europe have led to new participants in the organization either as
    members or observers. Many sub-organizations, research centers,
    commissions and other institutions affiliated with the OIC have been
    formed due to the expansion of activity areas.

    Another characteristic of the Organization is that, close up, many
    Islamic countries amongst themselves and also with many Western and
    Eastern countries, have developed activities around relations,
    culture, research, and information for the first time through the
    mediation of this organization. It has been observed that some
    countries that barely had relations among themselves and some
    educational, cultural and civil society organizations started
    relations for the first time. In addition, scientific congresses
    organized by the Islamic Research Center for History, Art and Culture
    (IRCICA), established in 1980 in Istanbul, has been especially active
    in the Balkans, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, some South and
    Southeast Asia countries, Caucasus, Central and North Asia and the
    Russian Federation. Research and publication are among the first
    activities of the OIC in these countries. As for the other quality of
    the Organization, it should be stated that through the work of the
    IRCICA, the OIC is the only international organization that has
    included art and art channels in international relations.


    If it is required to evaluate the results and content of the work of
    the OIC and its existence at the point it has reached today, it could
    be said that the Organization has the task of establishing a common
    ground for member countries to express joint determinations and
    attitudes in the presence of other international organizations and to
    provide a platform from which they can speak on national issues and
    seek support. Initiatives to achieve membership of Bosnia-Herzegovina
    in the United Nations could be given as an example on this subject.
    General issues related to all members such as disarmament and
    security cooperation as well as the conflicts in different regions
    including Palestine, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sudan, and
    Armenia-Azerbaijan are discussed by the Organization. Among the
    vastly varying economic development subjects, projects with the
    purpose of assisting Islamic countries that are among the less
    developed countries are especially conducted. On the other side,
    again through the activities of the IRCICA, the Organization follows
    cultural developments in the world and studies Islamic culture and
    civilization and its introduction to the world, corrects stereotypes
    about Islam and Islamic countries, and increases solidarity and
    cultural cooperation with minorities and all Muslim communities
    around the world.

    When one considers the development of this Organization as an
    umbrella for Islamic countries and outline so far, one may wonder
    whether or not the OIC has succeeded in reaching its targets. When
    the diversity among Islamic countries in respect to one another in
    terms of political system, level of economic development, national
    culture policies and many others as well as both domestic and foreign
    politics issues, is taken into consideration, despite all these
    problems, positive results have been achieved despite all these
    obstacles and collaboration has been reached. This indicates that the
    Organization has formed a successful joint platform even though it
    has not been echoed much. The Organization has also provided many
    important benefits from the perspective of voicing individual
    countries' issues from international platforms and developing
    bilateral and multilateral relations.

    It should be noted, however, that the conditions in the world when
    the OIC was formed and the conditions today are greatly different.
    With the collapse of the socialist systems, the bi-polar world has
    disappeared. In the globalization determining the new world order,
    the significance of country blocks and international organizations is
    increasing.

    Apparently, countries and groups of countries will be represented by
    international organizations gradually and international forums will
    express themselves through these organizations. If the OIC gains a
    new dynamic to adapt to new world conditions, adopts new concepts and
    principles and benefits with the support of member countries as an
    international institution representing Islamic countries, it could
    undertake more active roles in the upcoming term and help Islamic
    countries have louder voices in world politics, and economic and
    cultural relations.

    This commentary was written exclusively for Zaman by Prof. Ekmeleddin
    Ihsanoglu, the IRCICA Director General in Istanbul and OIC Secretary
    General Candidate.
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