"The only effective solution in the face of the Syrian civil war and the refugee crisis is for Islamic countries to unite"
Some
130,000 people have lost their lives in the civil war in Syria that has
been going on for some three years. The picture that emerges when the
injured, detained, the missing, those who have lost their homes and
refugees are added to the overall picture reveals the full horror going
on in the country. Cities are being destroyed in Syria, and the country
now looks like nothing but a huge pile of debris. The settlements
resemble graveyards with no life, no movement. However, Assad still
claims to be the so-called president of these empty lands, the so-called
leader of the physically non-existent Syria.
The
UN High Commission for Refugees has announced that Syria is currently
the country with the highest level of forced migration in the world. The
number of Syrians forced to flee their homes since the civil war began
in March of 2011 has exceeded 8.5 million, with at least 6.5 million
having to flee for reasons of safety: The majority of these people have
no access to electricity, water and medicines. Two and a half million
people live in a region where the civil war is raging. Another 2.2
million have migrated to various neighboring countries, especially
Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Humanitarian assistance is failing to
reach half the country.
A
look at figures provided by UNICEF makes the picture even clearer. Half
the people in need of aid in Syria are under 18: More than 500,000
children under the age of five need help and half of those who have fled
the country are children. The UN Children’s Fund states that the
infrastructure and public areas in Syria have been systematically
attacked, and that hospitals, health centers and the education system
are on the brink of collapse. George Mekhasi of the aid agency Medair,
said that because the refugee tents in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon were
situated so low, water often filled the tents and the children had to
sleep in water as a result. He said the situation has brought about many
serious diseases some of which haven't been seen in decades.
The
UN General Council has to date issued not one resolution regarding this
humanitarian crisis in Syria. Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr.
Davutoğlu gave a speech last November at the Brookings Institute. He
said that despite the convincing evidence and arguments, the UN refused
to add even a single paragraph to the UN resolution on chemical weapons
regarding the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the country.
In
an article written together with Bosnia Herzegovina Foreign Minister
Zlatko Lagumdžija for the Washington Post last August, Mr. Davutoğlu
stated the following:
“How
long will the U.N. Security Council continue to look the other way
while such carnage goes on in full view? How long will the international
community hold back while an estimated 5,000 Syrians lose their lives
every month at the hands of the regime in Damascus? Is the world waiting
for yet another apology by a U.N. Secretary General for inaction in the
face of a man-made humanitarian catastrophe — as happened in Bosnia and
Herzegovina?” As with the earlier massacres in Rwanda and Srebrenica,
innocent people are again being slaughtered today before the eyes of the
leaders of the world.
It
is important to perform a comparison to grasp the scale of the misery.
All it takes is for anyone to imagine for a moment that half the
population of their own country become refugees and that whole districts
are being shelled every day.
The Solution to Syria Is Unity
The
Western world steps in only when there is the mention of chemical or
nuclear weapons, and silently watches all too frequent massacres carried
out with conventional weapons. Some deep structures that aim to steer
the Western world do not refrain from saying ‘the clashes between
Muslims should be encouraged thus ensuring none of them wins’. While
this is the fact, it would be wrong to look for a solution in different
directions.
The
only effective solution in the face of the Syrian civil war and the
refugee crisis is for Islamic countries to unite against the oppression
in Syria. So long as we lack that unity, new suffering will continue to
visit the Islamic world every day.
The
moment that Islamic countries turn into a Union Force capable of
resolving all problems at lightning speed, the supporters of civil war
and conflict in the Middle East will immediately stop doing so. This
great force, that will command peace and goodness with the backing of
1.6 billion Muslims, will naturally also have the greatest influence in
Syria. This union, which will act as a deterrent to both Assad and the
other fighting opposition groups while also bringing security, will
inevitably provide the pulling back of both sides.
On
the other hand, it is of paramount importance to evacuate everyone just
to be on the safe side, considering that the war still rages on, even
as the talks continue. In addition to this, it is critical that the
countries in the region stay committed to their decision of hosting the
refugees, and all other countries should be more committed to
financially support these host countries. It is a matter of urgency for
all the Islamic countries to be mobilized for the safety and human
rights of our brothers and sisters until security is established in
Syria. The idea of putting one’s brother above oneself permeates the
spirit of the Qur’an. When the pilgrims migrated to Medina, Ansar
competed to make them welcome. We must implement that fine moral virtue
of the Companions and do what is required of us.
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