Setting up an assembly like this in such a short period of time with sensitivity regarding Jerusalem and the Muslim world’s show of unity and solidarity is, in itself, an important incident.
Certain countries’ participation in the assembly at the ministerial level rather than high-level attendance does not change the outcome. As a result, even if by low-level attendance, they joined the picture and signed the final declaration, one of the clearest and most determined in the history of the organization – a very rare occasion for the OIC.
Though they did not attend the summit in person, through the representatives they sent and authorized, they joined the declaration that strongly states, “The U.S. [which declared Jerusalem as Israel’s capital] is strongly condemned,” “East Jerusalem is declared as the capital of the state of Palestine” and, from now on, “This state and its institutes will be supported in every way on an international scale.”
This joint participation has also shown that, especially when Jerusalem is in question, in other words, when there is a call from Jerusalem, the Muslim world, regardless of the state of their leaders, has no choice but to participate. This is due to the knowledge that if such a call is ignored, the leader of any Muslim country knows they will experience a complete problem of legitimacy with their own people.
In other words, the issue is not only that the call was made by Erdoğan or Turkey. The issue is related to Jerusalem’s role in the Muslim world. This role is one that pushes everybody to prove themselves in the test of honor and dignity, especially when Jerusalem faces attack.
In this case, there is no choice but to hold onto Jerusalem, join Jerusalem to prove onseself and, as a matter of fact, to save oneself. Jerusalem is like Noah’s ark. Anybody left outside it will be submerged in the great flood.
It is true that Jerusalem is under occupation, but Jerusalem has witnessed and overcome such occupations numerous times in history. What’s important is what those who found their character with Jerusalem do when Jerusalem is under occupation. When and how will those people wake up and take action?
The situation is explained very fittingly in one of columnist Abdurrahman Dilipak’s recently published articles. Jerusalem is not waiting to be saved, it is calling us to salvation. It is calling on people to stop being characterless individuals whose nerves and will are removed like numbed slaves and become a subject, an agent. With its current situation, Jerusalem is calling us to salvation, rather than to being saved.
True, a total of 40 countries attended in response to Trump’s call for an “Alliance against Islamic terrorism” at the leadership level. This, in my humble opinion, revealed a shameful and disgraceful picture for the Muslim world. Compared to the 40 countries’ participation in that meeting at the leadership level, the number of leader-level attendance to Erdoğan’s Jerusalem call was no more than 18. Choosing to respond to the call at a lower level should, of course, also be analyzed.
This data is enough to give all the clues necessary regarding the current state of the Muslim world. However, this also requires an analysis to understand how it reached this point.
SOUL BREATHED INTO A DEAD BODY: THE OIC
When the first summit took place in Turkey as the OIC’s rotating term president, I had described the organization as “the soul breathed into a dead body” for the initial formation as the OIC.
The attempt of an extremist Jew to burn down Jerusalem in 1969 activated a reflex that enabled Muslims to take a stance and position in the world as an international political power. This reflex, not including nongovernmental organizations such as Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), was something like the effort to revive a dead body in 1918 at the state level. The establishment of a cooperation and solidarity organization between Muslim countries worldwide that was started largely with the initiative of Saudi Arabian King Faisal, matured upon this occasion.
The political significance of Muslims, whose population is currently some 1.7 billion, is small enough to say it has no significance despite this organization. Close to 70 percent of the world’s energy sources are located in the Muslim geography, yet only 7.5 percent of global revenue and 11 percent of trade belong to the Muslim world.
There is no Muslim country among G8 countries. There is no Muslim country among the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Yet, in recent times, the majority of wars and instabilities in the world are taking place in the regions composed of Muslim countries. Despite this, there is no Muslim country that will get the U.N. to take action for the necessary intervention. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia are listed among the top 20 developed countries, yet both the activity of this structure and impact of the Muslim presence in it are quite limited.
In a world where the significance of regional organizations, international solidarity and cooperation organizations is increasing, the importance of a structure that will represent the Muslim world and ensure cooperation among Muslims is increasingly felt as a necessity. As a direct result of the sociology of the Muslim population, there is serious pressure on this structure, which was formed in 1969 upon sensitivity toward Jerusalem, to become a little more active.
Unfortunately, those leading Muslim countries are after other pursuits instead of responding to these sociological demands. Despite this, the Muslim world that gathered in Istanbul upon their sensitivity toward Jerusalem, recalled this global potential and power along with all implications and delivered the necessary message separately to leaders of the Muslim world, to the U.S. and Israel, and Muslim peoples.
