Experts: OIC deserves more say in world politics, seat at UNSC

Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, Professor Berdal Aral of Fatih University in İstanbul said that recent developments are necessitating the OIC to take a more concrete and effective stand.

“The OIC has the needed capacity and ability to deal with the highly challenging issues of today. The OIC should definitely have a seat on the United Nations Security Council [UNSC],” he said. In response to the membership structure of the UNSC Aral said that the structure itself, drawn up in the 20th century during the Cold War, does not allow the Security Council to respond to the necessities of the contemporary world, of which Muslims make up a significant part.

For the OIC, the deepening of current political unrest due to the recent civil uprisings, labeled as the “Arab Spring,” in countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria and Libya as well as long-term economic disparities on a broader scale among its member states, offers the opportunity to disprove claims that the OIC is an ineffective organization and to move to the forefront of international decision-making.

The meeting of the OIC member states in late June as part of the 38th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, held in Astana, announced the unanimous decision to change the name of the organization and unveiled a new emblem. The relatively recent symbolic turn from conference to cooperation can be interpreted as an attempt to portray the revised policy that focuses on cooperative acts rather than less effective and more individual acts.

The willingness of the OIC, which is the second-largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations, with 57 member states and representing a significant portion of world resources as well as approximately 1.55 billion people, to affect global affairs, ranging from healthcare to politics, is actually a natural consequence of its capacity, on the international level, of being the only single institution capable of representing the Muslim world.

The wave of civil uprisings that shook long-established elites in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria, the ongoing famine in Somalia and the recent terrorist attack in Norway put the OIC right in the middle of serious problems to deal with.

Pakynam El Sharkawy, director of the Center of Civilization Studies of Cairo University, sharing her views with Sunday’s Zaman, said: “The OIC has a privileged role in terms of being a moderator in current unrest and in the further development in the Islamic geography since the organization is legitimate and accepted by the states as well their societies.”

In the light of recent events, the OIC’s Islamophobia Observatory report, recording the incidents of rising antagonism towards Muslims and increasing power of extreme right-wing parties in Europe, depicts the reality where Muslim identity is under pressure. For the OIC it is a crucial moment to seek a far more influential position in finding a solution for political unrest and the increasing prejudice towards Muslims.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the five-day First International Model of the OIC, organized by the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the OIC earlier in July, OIC President Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu stressed the necessity of initiative and concern on the part of the member states with regard to current problems.

“If you look at the realities of today, you see that we live in a different world. We are witnessing emerging powers like China and India, a different Japan, a Europe dealing with economic problems and uprisings in North Africa and Arab states. There is a [economic and political] shift taking place, moving from West to East and from north to south. The Muslim world now stands in the middle of the current change,” he said.

According to İhsanoğlu, one of the major issues for the OIC is to deal with the organization’s new stand in the international arena. İhsanoğlu agrees with Professor Aral with regard to the necessity to reform the structure of the UNSC. By allowing the OIC to have a permanent seat on the UNSC as the world’s second largest inter-governmental organization, it will enable a well-balanced evaluation and decision-making process on the part of the UNSC for today’s issues as well as the ones the world will face in the future.

Referring to the wide range of expertise of the OIC and its work, area experts emphasize the importance of Muslim youth, in particular in raising awareness and motivating young generations to deal with contemporary issues. Kareem Hussein Mettwally, an Egyptian diplomat, expressed the opinion that the long-term success of the OIC depends on future generations. “Every young Muslim is an ambassador of faith and responsible for peace and prosperity of his or her own country,” he added.

According to Bülent Aras, president of the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s Center for Strategic Research (SAM), the OIC is a dynamic platform for dynamic youth. He referred to the civil uprisings, widely labeled as the “Arab Spring,” as “normalization of history” and stressed the readiness of Turkey to cooperate for a peaceful transformation.

The OIC possesses significant potential for enhancing its competitiveness both at regional and international level. In spite of the heterogeneous composition of the OIC member states, the sense of belonging to the Islamic ummah (society) gives the OIC a unique opportunity to cope with the wide spectrum of challenges. As İhsanoğlu said, “Things are still not easy, we must admit the reality, but we will achieve good results with cooperation.”