By Turgay Evren
In 2014 President Erdoğan made a speech at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and emphasized that the Security Council of the UN needs to be reformed by telling the slogan which would have a worldwide impact on the masses: “The World Is Bigger Than Five.” After this date, Erdoğan reiterated this famous slogan at all the following UNGAs.
In 2017 being inspired by this slogan, I wrote an English song titled, “The World Is Bigger Than Five.” The song reached millions of people in Turkey and the world through social media.
In 2020 we began living in a more vulnerable world facing bigger challenges and regional disputes. For the oppressed people of the world, things got only worse as the years passed by. COVID 19 was added to the lists of the problems seeking global attention. Global warming, newly emerging conflicts, the suppression of minority rights in some so-called democracies, a wide scale of human rights violations, hatred towards some belief groups fuelled or tolerated by the elected leaders of the world, environmental problems, rising racism, terror, poverty and corruption are some of the current problems humankind encounter.
In such a challenging climate, I was curious about the speech Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan would deliver at UNGA. Imran Khan gave a great speech rasing several global and regional issues the UN should address. He mentioned global problems such as the effects of Global Warming showing itself as climate change and floods in different countries.
Imran Khan said that Pakistan started a campaign of planting millions of trees throughout Pakistan but of course the contribution of Pakistan towards the global environment or climate problems would be tiny and these problems should be tackled on a global scale.
Imran Khan also mentioned that totalitarian regimes are on the rise and the rights of minorities are constantly trampled upon in many parts of the world. He referred to recent attacks taking place in the west towards Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and added that this hostile attitude towards Muslims and their values cannot be regarded as a manifestation of freedom of thought. Rather, all these actions are reflections of Islamophobia, which is one of the worst forms of racism and fascism.
Imran Khan at this point talked about the plight of 200 million Muslims in India. He said that 300 million people including Muslims, Christians and Sikhs are exposed to very big discrimination and oppression sponsored by Modi Regime in India and this is something unprecedented in the entire history. Imran Khan also assigned a big space in his speech for the predicament of Kashmiri and Palestinian People. He said that India unilaterally abrogated the special status of Kashmir and imposed a strict lockdown sending almost nine hundred thousand soldiers to Kashmir. We witness the abduction and murder of young Kashmiri civilians in the form of fake encounters. Imran Khan warned the world that the Kashmir problem can trigger bigger regional wars in geography surrounded by nuclear weapons, and affect the entire globe.
He said that Pakistan would defend itself with all its nation if any attacks are conducted by the Indian Army. Imran Khan called the UN to solve the Kashmir problem in accordance with the UN resolutions requiring a referendum in Kashmir. Imran Khan also stated that the only viable solution towards Palestine is the two-state solution with Palestine whose capital city is Jerusalem.
When we check the entire speech of Imran Khan at the UNGA, we can clearly see that the world is suffering the lack of moral leadership to address various problems. Erdoğan and Imran Khan both call for the reform of the UN and a just system to deal with all the disputes and issues of the world. Both Imran Khan and Erdoğan are seeking the prevalence of justice over might. However, the right without might cannot effectively challenge the world system based on a share distribution determined by a balance of powers. Therefore, both Turkey and Pakistan must work hard to develop their economy, military, justice, and education systems.
As Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, “The upper hand is better than the lower hand.” It means the giving hand is better than taking a hand. How can a country have an upper hand in the world system? By being a producer in every aspect of life, not being contented with remaining solely as a consumer. But for that, we first need to overcome the inferiority complex imposed on our people. We need to have a great dream about the future. In history, we have achieved to establish great civilizations and we can do the same in the future as well. We need to believe in ourselves and work with passion to explore and reveal our great potential.
Turkey and Pakistan are two strongholds of Islam but both countries are facing big external and internal challenges. Both countries are surrounded by wartorn neighbouring countries such as Syria and Afghanistan. Some global centres of power are busy by creating traps for both countries. Both Turkey and Pakistan are targeted as they do not give up defending Palestine and raising the voice of oppressed people globally. Both countries have managed to deal with COVID 19 well so far through smart lockdowns and by not closing their economies totally.
Pakistan and Turkey need to keep their common stance towards global and regional issues and create a bigger alliance involving not only Muslim countries but all the justice-seeking countries. Their job is not as easy as this attitude will not only disturb the USA and Europe but also Russia and China in the future. Freedom and real independence is never easy. It takes a big cost and only the countries having the courage to pay this cost can attain real freedom.
Turkey and Pakistan must keep being the conscience of the world despite the internal and external barriers put in their paths!… It is not our responsibility to reach the destination, but to be on the right path leading to love, justice, peace, compassion and humanity!…
