The General Structure

And when your Lord announced: "If you are grateful, I will certainly give you increase, but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is severe." (Surah Ibrahim: 7)

The First World War and the Second World War taught humanity a lesson in the form of wanton slaughter on a global scale, major European cities reduced to rubble, flattened housing estates, and genocidal concentration camps. The West, caught in the middle of these wars, drew a very important lesson from these tragedies: form alliances in order to have an efficient, easier, and quicker conflict-resolution mechanism. Other European countries had tried to form alliances in the past, but these were never long-lived either because of a conflict of national interest or for some ideological reason. This time, the West knew that the desired union had to be more than just an economic or a joint defense pact; it had to be a union established upon common cultural values. Obviously, this is a lengthy process.

These wars devastated Europe's economy and industry. The survivors had to rebuild hundreds of cities, repair infrastructure, and reestablish a functioning education and health system. The war was over, but now the colonies were demanding independence. It appeared to be a hard job to create stability as well as a union amidst all of this disorder. The first step in this direction was the European Coal and Steel Federation, formed in 1951 primarily to serve and develop industry. This union eventually became the European Economic Community (EEC), then the European Community (EC), and finally the European Union (EU). Eventually, it became a strong union in which products, services, capital, and labor freely circulate between member states; a union having a common currency, compatible laws, and even state bureaucracies. Today, the EU is one of the major players on the international political stage.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has 56 member states and is the largest Muslim organization in terms of number of members and of geography. In addition, there are several regional military and trade alliances between neighboring Muslim nations, each of which fulfills important functions and represents a positive development. However, the Islamic world needs a more comprehensive union, one with permanent institutions empowered to take binding decisions, develop and implement common policies, represent the entire Islamic world, and produce solutions for all Muslims rather than just in a few regional hotspots. This union's power must be economic, military, and social. The existence of such a union will create an environment of mutual trust and agreement so that a sense of solidarity will develop. Accordingly, the member states' security concerns will be addressed, and the resulting extensive cooperation will result in higher standards of living in the member states. Acting as one body in all affairs concerning it, either directly or indirectly, this world will be able to develop strategies that are in the Islamic world's best interest.

In the second half of the twentieth century, developments in Palestine, Bosnia, Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kashmir, and Aceh brought an important truth home to the Islamic world. In these regions, where thousands of civilians lost their lives, countless children were orphaned and savagery and violence reached shocking levels, the West either did not react at all or was slow to take preventive action. Such indifference reminded the Muslims once more that all of them are responsible for protecting the rights of other Muslims and meeting their needs. Therefore, the Islamic world has be very responsive and proactive, for only united Muslim nations can guarantee the safety of all Muslims by speaking for all Muslims in the international political arena with one voice.

The Islamic world has to become one bloc in terms of military, politics, and economics. An Islamic world united from within will ensure world peace and prevent radicals from moving toward a clash of civilizations based upon their ideologies of self-interest and conflict.

The Turkish Islamic Union's General Structure

The Turkish Islamic Union must have a structure that preserves member states' independence, national borders, rights, and interests. Each sovereign state must strive to unite under a shared Islamic culture, develop common policies, and establish the legislative and administrative organs that will implement them. The purpose here is not to achieve a structural merger of states, but to unite behind common policies and interests in order to achieve the political power that such a union would have.

In such a union, the world's Muslims will be in direct touch with one another, know each other's problems intimately, and help one another. Separatism, factionalism, and fanaticism will be put aside for the principle of Muslim unity. The fact that the Islamic world has not been able to reach consensus among the different views, systems, and models that characterize its members has prevented it from acting in unity. The proposed union's call for unity will not be made according to race, economic condition, or geographical location, and all animosity arising from differences of race, language, or culture will cease under the umbrella of this union. Its members' sense of unity will not be based upon the superiority of one culture, nation, or group over another, but upon the spirit of solidarity engendered by equality, compassion, love, and friendship.

One of the primary reasons for establishing the Turkish Islamic Union is to create a central authority capable of directing the general Muslim population. For this reason, the central authority must have a structure that reaches all Muslims or, in other words, must be able to accommodate all different views under its umbrella. The Turkish Islamic Union must be based on Islam's central tenets, receive practical as well as theoretical differences in views with compassion and understanding, and successfully turn these differences into cultural diversity and wealth. These differences must not be allowed to obstruct the application of political will and joint action. All disputes between Muslim nations must be resolved, and their differences must be settled within the framework of this central authority. An Islamic world that can manage its internal affairs will be able to resolve potential differences with other civilizations easily and to produce the joint policies that its central authority will implement and administer.

The Islamic world has many issues that need to be resolved and that are continuing problems for the international community: such political tragedies as Palestine, Kashmir, and Iraq; the ideological war on terrorism; and such social issues as underdevelopment, poverty, health, and education. These main topics are not regional or local matters; rather, they have a direct bearing on all Muslims. Given this reality, the Islamic world must achieve solidarity in order to resolve them. No one can suggest that what happens in Palestine concerns only the Palestinians, that the innocent Muslim Kashmiri civilians suffering from oppression should sort themselves out, or that starving children in some Islamic country are only the responsibility of the country in question. Muslims cannot accept this situation as a matter of faith.

The military, political, and economic unity of the Islamic world will enable a better use of the available resources and allow it to accomplish major cultural and economic development.

However, Muslims have failed to form a strong alliance among themselves and so other—and non-Muslim—countries are offering solutions to these and similar problems. The proposed solutions, however, do not have the Muslims' best interest at heart, or else offer only short-term solutions. In many conflict-riven regions, the Muslims' relative weakness prevents them from having any real voice at the negotiating table. In addition, the so-called peace plans often incorporate certain clauses that do more harm than good. The Islamic world has an obligation to produce a joint action plan to safeguard the affected Muslims' rights.

The number of issues awaiting resolution by the Turkish Islamic Union indicates that it will have a busy schedule. To function efficiently, it needs to have a permanent operational headquarters, form the legislative and administrative organs that will coordinate their activities (including their subdivisions), and ensure that these institutions will function properly. The infrastructure that will deliver the right decisions at the right time must be built, the union must inspire trust with its activities, and its members must be reassured that their rights are fully protected.

The Turkish Islamic Union must have the flexibility to adapt to changing political conditions and the foresight to develop appropriate strategies. The need for an active central authority that can take the initiative, instead of giving reflexive responses to world events or being content with either criticizing or voicing opinions, is obvious. This center must shoulder the responsibility for coordinating, supervising, and serving the interest of all member states equally. It must consider all developments objectively and be guided by the Islamic world's demands.

A Turkish Islamic Union that can arbitrate between member states, resolve their conflicts of interests, and protect Muslims in their dealings with other nations will increase the Islamic world's cultural, economic, and political influence.

For the Turkish Islamic Union to become a united force and a unifying structure, it must protect modern social values, respect the human rights of all people, and be based on democratic principles. Not surprisingly, all of these values are central to Islamic morality.

AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. ADNAN OKTAR BY DENGE TV, JULY 2008 Adnan Oktar: Although Muslim countries have enormous revenues, their peoples are poor. That is so, the people are poor in just about all Islamic countries. And they have a low quality of life. That is generally the case. But there is no reason for this. If a Turkish-Islamic Union is set up, if a rational Turkish-Islamic Union Parliament is established, then these problems will be totally resolved. And the global rule of Islamic moral values will be a matter of moments. It will happen like lightning. That is why we must concentrate on union. We must bring all the Turkic states, almost all of which are Muslim, and all Muslim states, under a single roof, and bring them into a great structure like a Turkish-Islamic NATO or a Turkish-Islamic Common Market. We must keep them all as separate nation states; in other words, there is no need to change the states. We must base ourselves on reason, honesty, love and fervor within the system. It is essential to get rid of the official mentality. That breaks the spirit. The official spirit must be avoided. Love one, and sincerity two. These things must be resolved with love and sincerity.

AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. ADNAN OKTAR BY KRAL KARADENIZ TV, JANUARY 2nd, 2008  Adnan Oktar: Our nation has an ideal in the hearts of everyone, from 7 to 70. We know this right from childhood; Turkish Islamic Union. We are the children of the Ottomans. We are their descendants. We will do what our grandfathers did. All the conditions for the formation of the Turkish-Islamic Union have now come about. Once the Turkish-Islamic Union is established and borders are opened, by Allah's leave, it will include Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Turkistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia and the Caucasus. That will be our day for rejoicing. We will get in our cars from here and go right as far as the Caspian, where we will lay our tables by the shore and have dinner. From there we will move on to Turkistan, and from there to Armenia and everywhere. We will just have to salute at the border crossings, that is all. There will be no need for passports or visas. The border points will have to be at least 10 meters across, from one end to the other. What is great about this union is that there will be no racism, only love... What I am talking about has the idea of a fervent love, a love of Allah and helping His servants. This is a system that also embraces Christians and Jews. A system that embraces the whole Arab world, the whole Islamic world, with that warm love inspired by Islam... This Turkish-Islamic Union is a spirit coming to us from the Ottomans, from our forefathers. It is a spirit taught to us by our forefathers. This blessed and delightful union will definitely come about. That is our destiny. But it is a question of love and desire. Once 90% of people in Turkey want it, the matter will be over and done with. Once it has happened in people's hearts, opening up the borders will not take even 10 minutes. Opening up the borders is not the problem, it is essential for this to be accepted and become a reality in people's hearts. It will take just 10 or 15 minutes at most to open up the borders.