Turkey going to become permanent UN Security Council member

PanARMENIAN.Net - It has been nearly 50 years since Turkey last served on the Security Council. In 2008, it will compete against Austria and Iceland for one of the two seats reserved for the "Western Europe and Others" group. In support of this campaign, Ankara has presented its strategic position between Islam and the West. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken of Turkey's unique role in "bringing religions and culture closer together to avoid a global clash of civilizations," John Feffer, an expert on military policy and Asia, writes in Turkish Policy Quarterly, the Guide to Turkey's Political Outlook.



"Over the last five years, Turkey has lobbied hard to gather support from more than 100 countries. In 2005, it joined Spain in creating the Alliance of Civilizations under the auspices of the UN to address the major polarizing tendencies within the international community.



"Turkey wants a slot on the Security Council for several reasons. It would confer immeasurable prestige upon the country and provide the international political correlative to Turkey's status as the 17th large economy in the world. It would strengthen Turkey's position within the Muslim world. And it would improve Turkey's case for membership in the European Union - a far greater challenge - by helping to overcome some European concerns that Turkey is somehow not part of the West.



"Until recently the idea that Turkey could serve as a bridge across this new post-Cold War religious divide would have been preposterous, given its inability to resolve the conflicts in Cyprus, with Armenia, and domestically among different confessions. But Turkey has recently improved its bridge-building skills at home and abroad. Will a seat on the Security Council provide Turkey greater latitude to play this role, or is such a high-level acknowledgment of its mediating capacities and intentions premature? As importantly, perhaps, would a rotation on the Security Council change Turkey as much as Turkey hopes to change the world?



"Turkey aspires to a new global role. By all means, it should be invited back to serve on the Security Council - for all that Turkey can contribute to the world and for all that such global responsibilities can contribute to Turkey," the essay reads.