The centenary of the end of the First World War was commemorated with world leaders posing for the cameras together in Paris. After the meeting, the attitude of the leaders, rather than the destruction experienced 100 years ago and the transformations that took place over the last century, was widely discussed. No one talked about the traumas experienced and the problems created 100 years ago, which still continue to terrorize the world. However, the leaders’ attitudes and mimics demonstrated that the world order, which was established 100 years ago, is no longer relevant.
The most significant result of this meeting was the offer from France and Germany, two countries that don’t feel secure anymore, to create a European army. This quest for defense cooperation despite NATO upsets the international balances of the last century. Europe, which was literally cornered by the U.S. and China, virtually went back to the beginnings of the 19th century and looked for a new Vienna Convention to maintain the status quo.
The U.S., which observed and had not joined the First World War until the very end and later entered stepped onto the world stage with their “open door” policies, even assuming the leadership of the old-world order, is today in the league of the unsatisfied. Its century-old leadership is being threatened. The pursuit of France and Germany bothers the U.S., which still claims to be the leader of NATO. With President Donald Trump, the U.S. is aiming to prove itself once again to the world. To this end, it has to confront its closest rival, China. Hence the trade wars, which are not only affecting the two countries but also the whole world, indicate that this confrontation has already started. Because, China which has been a part of the “rest,” has become the biggest rival of the U.S. by quietly progressing and producing and came into such a position that it now stands an alternative to the old-world order.
The unsatisfied sons of the First World War, after battling each other once again in the Second World War realized that this fight cannot go on forever and started to look for a new regional cooperation and alliances. That is why the European Union (EU) was founded and this led to the total transformation of Europe. Nevertheless, the EU is now facing the danger of dissolution, 100 years after the end of the war. Not just in the EU, but also within European countries alarm bells have started to ring because of the separationist and secessionist movements. That is why the major party of the allied countries 100 years ago, Britain, was not able to pose with France and Germany. Russia, which left the Western bloc after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 (former USSR) has improved its image by making a comeback 100 years later. Russian President Vladimir Putin has assumed the identity of a statesman who establishes peace, rather than that of a tyrant and outdated socialist leader. The successor of the USSR, Russia has appeared on the scene again as a quarterback. That is why, on Nov. 11, Putin wanted to make his weight felt by the leaders and came to the hall at the last moment, where the meeting was taking place.
India, a country whose wealth has been looted by the whole of Europe throughout their history, particularly by the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British, and whose wealth and identity was taken away, has rebuilt itself in a way that no one could have ever imagined. With its population, human resources potential, and its accumulation of knowledge in the field of information technologies, which is considered to be the most competitive field of the future world, and with its active role in international organizations, it has proved that it is a candidate to become the most important actor of the coming century.
Africa, which has been portrayed as “black” ever since the age of colonization, has also gone through a major transformation. Despite all its problems, Africa partly reformed itself and it showed to the whole world that it is not a continent whose resources can be so easily plundered anymore. Africa taught the whole world that it is not a continent which is kept in reserve but a region that consists of 54 sovereign states. Hence, the African Union has become the biggest inter-governmental organization after the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The Middle East and the Muslim world hasn’t worked out their century-old problems yet. Because there are still ongoing clashes in this geography, which was chosen as the playground by those who established the old-world order. The societies that still can’t get over the mysticism of their golden ages and are unable to build a new future for themselves are still struggling with the problems they had taken over 100 years ago: the borders drawn by the mandatary and colonial minds, the unending desire for power… It has been revealed that this geography doesn’t fit into the role it was assigned after the First World War. In short, a search for a new world order has started a century later, from west to east, and from north to south.
It is quite clear that the order established 100 years ago has no significance today. The old global order, the regional systems which support it and power centers have lost all of their functions. The world has started to look for a more just and humane order. Certainly, this process is not going to be easy. Former hegemons, those regional structures that had been benefiting from this order, and those whose minds are closed to new pursuits are going to unite their forces and create a “new chaos” to maintain their order. To a large extent, the centers of this chaos will be the Middle East and the Muslim world and to some extent, it will be Africa, China, India, and their spheres of influence.
This historic transformation offers a major opportunity to Turkey, the heart of the world, to become a bridge between geographies, civilizations, religions, sects, ideologies, races and nations. However, Turkey first needs to make peace with its own history and with its own historical figures. At a time like this when there is a search for a new world order, Turkey should not ruin its future because of meaningless and irrelevant discussions, daily polemics, insufficient demagogues and lunatics. It should continue on its path under the guidance of history, reason, and science, and should preserve the gains it has obtained over the last 100 years.
