KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted today that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), founded by the victors of World War Two, is outdated and is not protecting the interest of Muslim nations.
In his address at the inaugural Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 (KL Summit) here, the fiery Muslim leader said the current system favours only the permanent members consisting of five countries with veto powers — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
“I stated that a solution to global problems should be found with an understanding that focuses on people and conscience instead of an interest-oriented perspective.
“In all the platforms we participated or assumed responsibility in recent years, we have raised the problems faced by humanity and Muslims. We declare that the world system needs a new structure based on justice and equity.
“The system, which was established by the winners of the Second World War with the aim of protecting their own interests and which leaves the fate of 1.7 billion people of the Islamic world to the enjoyment of the five permanent members of the Security Council has completed its lifetime.
“It is a must to update the platforms such as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which brings Islamic countries together, in such a way to increase their effectiveness,” said Erdogan.
However, he also acknowledged that some of the problems facing the Muslim world are due to its own weaknesses and have nothing to do with external factors.
He observed that the biggest problem facing Muslims on a global scale is the lack of implementation on joint policies as Muslim nations remain fragmented and is plagued by sectarianism.
At the same time, Erdogan pointed out that the Islamic world is not weak, powerless or desperate as it has the same amount of economic resources, raw materials, population numbers and geographical location when compared to non-Muslim states.
“If the majority of Muslims are still struggling with hunger, famine, poverty and ignorance in spite of all the facilities, oil, population and natural resources that Allah has bestowed upon us, we must first look for the mistake in ourselves.
“In the Quran, we are ordered, dozens of times, to use our minds. Blaming others for our own mistakes would be taking the easy way out,” he said.
Erdogan noted that Islamic nations are far below the world average and its own potential in the areas of politics, foreign policies, defence industries and technology.
He said that the share of Islamic countries in the world economy does not even reach 10 per cent while the income gap between the richest Islamic country and the poorest is more than 200 times.
“Islamic countries have 59 per cent of global oil reserves and 58 per cent of natural gas reserves.
Nevertheless, 350 million Muslims are struggling to survive in conditions of extreme poverty. Muslims which make up a quarter of the world’s population account for only four per cent of global health spending.
“Likewise, while the literacy rate in the world is 82.5 per cent, it is around 70 per cent in the Islamic world. While Islamic countries allocate only 3.7 per cent of their national income to education, other countries allocate 4.8 per cent on average,” said Erdogan.
He added that 94 per cent of world-wide conflict involves Muslims with one out of three firearms being sold is found in the Middle East.
