Sadık Zunuzi: “So far we have evaluated ourselves with the Western eyes. And this made us look at each other in the way they wanted. The Iranian Revolution was a rebellion against the world order in a sense. After the revolution the concept of revolution expansion came up. If it were successful, it could affect 1.5 million people. During Iran-Iraq war, all Arab countries fought with Iran for 8 years although it was indirectly. As Iran planned its system from the perspective of Islam, other Arab countries planned their systems in accordance with the West.”
A.Cabbari: “There are some doubtful situations about what happened during the process after September 11. These doubtful situations should be understood and answered. After September 11 no international commission came together and analyzed the situation. A commission should come together and analyze September 11 incidents. We do not believe that September 11 incidents were carried out by four or five terrorists; yet we accepted it one way or another. Those planning September 11 attacks are the ones who want change.”
Birol Akgun: “Who carried out September 11 incidents and who planned them will never be revealed. For this reason, instead of questioning who did it, we need to discuss the effects of September 11 incidents on the international system. In the short run, it extended American dominance for a while. As a consequence, the US could carry out military operations in different places of the world. However, in the long run the US ended up as a loser and lost its persuasiveness. What triggered the economic crisis in 2008 were the USA’s military investments. The multi-polarity which should have happened after the Cold War, emerged after September 11 incidents. The USA is no more a power that rules the world on its own. If we analyze the conditions in terms of Turkey, we see that Turkey is in a good position now in terms of ideology, politics, economy, and culture. Turkey does not aim to look after its benefits by filling the gap the US left. On the contrary, Turkey wants a more fair order in which every state can look after its own benefit. The September 11 incidents led to unwanted fights; on the other hand it helped the world order take its new shape again.”
Moreover, Yılmaz Colak evaluated September 11 incidents on the base of the concept of “civilization”. He said that some people considered September 11 attacks as an attack to the Western life and culture. Colak said that in time concepts such as “Turkish model” and “alliance of civilizations” were brought forward. As a Muslim country in step with the democratic order Turkey, is a model for the Muslim world and this model is conceptualized as “Turkish model”. Colak stated that the concept of the alliances of civilizations is a dangerous discourse for Turkish foreign policy and this concept has an exclusionist nature. “Turkey cannot have an active foreign policy by using the concept of ‘civilization’”, said Mr.Colak.
After the speeches, the meeting ended with the question-answer part.
