From Gaziantep: where is the Islamic world headed?

In times when pessimism prevails, in gloomy situations where hope has become a scarce resource, we said a few years ago, on an occasion that brought us to this beautiful city, that it is worthwhile to look at Turkey from Gaziantep as well. Both for its industrial production, for the diligence and productivity of its people, and for its distinctive, thoroughly positive ways of coping with social problems, Gaziantep has always struck me as a place that revives hope and opens horizons. In the heart of the Southeast, it has bound the strong development, industrialization and economic performance it has displayed, together with its humane approach that successfully fuses the cultural diversity in the city, into a holistic model. While making the Syrians it hosted for 14 years a part of the city through a far more functional integration than in other regions of the country, it has as a result also thrown strong commercial and cultural bridges to the Arab world. Especially after the Syrian revolution of December 8, these bridges have begun to make the city feel, more with each passing day, a very strong potential for expansion. Immediately after the revolution close to 100 thousand Syrians returned, which eased some of the pressures on this city and enabled those who remained to become a more functional population. In parallel with its industrial and social development, the city has also recorded parallel progress in science, technology and culture. There are 5 universities in the city, and some of these universities have departments or joint activities in the former safe zones in Syria. Gaziantep University, for example, has several faculties in Azaz, and the students trained there are ready to contribute in every respect to Syria, which is today at the stage of reconstruction. During the past week we tried, from this city of ours, to look this time not at Turkey but at the whole Islamic world, indeed at the whole world. The second Gaziantep Forum, organized for two years by Gaziantep Islamic Science and Technology University (GİBTU), under the title "Where Is the Islamic World Heading?", in a search for a "Perspective for a Strong Future," brought together Muslim scholars, intellectuals and academics from every part of the Islamic world. In two days of panels and workshops, while making projections about the future of the Islamic world, the participants of course also made plentiful analyses of history and of the present state of affairs. The Islamic world is of course not detached from the wider world, that is, from global society and the balances of power. Where it will go is also closely related to the direction in which the global system, which now feels as though it is in serious crisis, will develop. Will those who make politics in the name of the Islamic world wait for the global system to collapse in order to determine their own future? Or will the choices or activities of the actors who will act in the name of the Islamic world have an effect in shaping the future of the global system? This is of course a very tough question. What kind of effect will 2 billion Muslims, who could not display an effective stance in the face of the genocidal crime and insolence of 7 million criminal Israel in Gaza, have on the future of the global system? With which actors, with which projects? With what spirit and motivation? Unfortunately, every time we ask such questions the same bitter reality confronts us and slaps us in the face. During the Gaziantep Forum, too, the same questions came and struck us in the face again and again. Of course, though, this question's striking us in the face does not serve to produce yet more helplessness; on the contrary, it produces more of the search for remedies, of discourse, of the responsibility of initiative. For that reason, such forums, conferences and debates must never be belittled. Yet, to come back to the bitter reality. Those in a position to implement the proposals put forward at such forums are states. But today there is no Muslim state in the world whose basic concern or reason for existence is Islam. In other words, Muslims have no political body. The basic priority of the countries called Islamic countries is national interests, and therefore their politics is a thoroughly secular politics. In this case, who steers the helm in the command room that will determine the route of the Islamic world, and who will? In the absence at present of such an actor in play, the discourses about where the Islamic world is going cannot get beyond a discourse that imagines even those who ask as passive spectators. When US hegemony ends, will Chinese hegemony begin? Then, in any case, will the Islamic world, which keeps being tossed about in the wind without any involvement of ours, be more at ease under Chinese hegemony? Or will the Islamic world be more at ease in a multipolar world? This is of course an approach that cannot imagine the Islamic world as an actor that makes history. On behalf of the Islamic world, will we content ourselves with watching the crises of global hegemony, the oscillations between the US and China or Russia? In fact, these impasses too were seen and addressed very well at the Gaziantep Forum. Everyone has a common perception and concern about the willingness or unwillingness of the existing Islamic countries to turn the Islamic world into an actor. The Islamic world of course does not consist of states alone. In the opening panel titled "Has the Global System Lost Its Legitimacy?", of which I was among the speakers, Mehmet Görmez Hodja pointed out that the concept of the "Islamic world," indeed even the concept of "Islamic civilization," had never been used before the 19th century. The Islamic world is a reaction by Muslims against fragmentation and the helplessness arising from it, and a conceptual refuge they produced in order to take shelter in. The "ummah," as a more authentic and deeply rooted concept, is a common consciousness that includes a Muslim anywhere in the world in a political and creedal bodily existence, even if it has not been embodied in a Muslim state. The rector of GİBTU University, Prof. Şehmus Demir, as far as I have known him from long ago, is someone who knows these subjects very well, cares about them, has a very strong intellectual side, and is troubled by them. He has made this concern, which belongs to all of us, an important activity of the quest of the university he leads. Together with all the faculty members of the university, they contributed to the Forum with a flawless organization. Both the Metropolitan Mayor Fatma Şahin and the Şahinbey Mayor Mehmet Tahmazoğlu took very close interest in the guests who took part in the Forum. The enchantingly beautiful Millet Mosque, Millet Library and Congress and Arts Center built by the Şahinbey municipality mark a bar in municipal work that will not easily be surpassed. They are great works, each of which has joined the cultural assets and deserves a special visit for its beauty. Alongside the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Prof. Safi Arpaguş, and the President of the IDE, Prof. Mehmet Görmez, a great many well-known names, including the President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars Prof. Ali Karadaghi, the Chairman of the Al-Sharq Forum and author of Ilbahar, the boldest sirah book written recently, Wadah Khanfar, and our Ambassador to Syria Prof. Burhan Köroğlu, stirred up strong brainstorming around the subjects discussed. We may perhaps continue our assessments of the Forum together with the Gaza Tribunal, which has been under way for three days at Istanbul University.