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Sponsored by the UN Development Program, the National Democratic Institute of International Affairs, and the Turkish Democratic Foundation, has brought together delegates from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, with the focus of the meeting to discuss democratic developments in Muslim countries. Another aim is to show that the fundamentals of democratic governance already exist in most Muslim countries.
For Turkey, which had a 50 year long tradition of democratic governance, it was more a question of strengthening human rights and freedoms, corner stones of democracy, according to Cemil Çiçek, Turkey’s Justice Minister.
“Democracy and freedoms must be enshrined in and protected by the rule of law,” he said.
However, democracy needed to be developed in each country and by each country, Çiçek said.
“Democracy is not a ready made garment,” he said, “it must be tailored to fit each society.”
The Minister also said that while Muslim society was rich in culture and heritage and indeed many countries had great wealth represented by their natural resources, many of the world’s 1.5 million Muslims lived in extreme poverty. This too was a situation that needed to be addressed he said.
State Minister Mehmet Aydn said that even Turkey needed to do more to strengthen its democracy, citing the low number of women involved in the political process.
Many speakers at the first day of the conference dismissed attempts to link Islam with terrorism. Among them was Mahamane Ousamane, the former President of Niger.
“Poverty is fertile ground for terrorism and extremism,” he said. “The competent authorities must be aware of this fact.” | |
