Pope - Islamic World Crisis (3)

September 2006

News  Update (3)  - English,  Turkish,  Spanish,  French

By Ian Fisher The New York Times SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2006

ROME Pope Benedict XVI drew rising anger on Friday over comments he made about Islam, as Muslim leaders around the world angrily accused him of dividing religions and demanded an apology.

In Britain, Gaza, Iraq, Syria and Indonesia, Muslim leaders registered their protest. The Parliament in Pakistan passed a resolution against the pope's statements and the government later summoned the Vatican envoy to express official displeasure.

In Lebanon, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the most senior Shiite cleric, demanded "a personal apology - not through his envoys."

And emotion spilled over in Turkey, which Benedict is scheduled to visit in November, as a top official in the Islamic-rooted governing party said that the pope was "going down in history in the same category as leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini."

"He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages," the official, Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of the party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan, was quoted on the state-owned Anatolia news agency as saying. "It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades."

Reaction to the pope's remarks - in which he quoted a description of Islam in the 14th century as "evil and inhuman" - have presented Benedict with the first full-blown crisis of his year- and-a-half papacy. Already some in Turkey have questioned whether he should make the planned visit, which would be the pope's first trip to a Muslim country.

Many Muslims are also comparing his comments to the unflattering cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that stoked deep Muslim anger this year.

But unlike with the cartoons, the reaction has not been violent. Several bombs reportedly exploded near a church in Gaza, though it was unclear whether they were related to the pope's comments.

The Vatican released no official comment Friday. On Thursday, as Benedict returned from a six-day trip to Germany, the pope's chief spokesman said that he had not intended to "offend the sensibility of Muslim believers." Meanwhile, other top Vatican officials also sought to tamp down the furor.

"I am convinced the pope did not mean to assume a position against Islam," a German cardinal, Walter Kasper, told the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, a French prelate with experience in the Islamic world, was appointed Friday as the Vatican's new foreign minister. He told Agence France-Presse: "The dialogue between different civilizations, cultures and religions - which nobody can hide from - will be one of the great questions which I will tackle in my new job."

In a speech Tuesday at Regensburg University, where Benedict had taught theology, the pope delivered a long, scholarly address on reason and faith in the West.

But he began his speech recounting a conversation between the 14th-century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.

"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"

Benedict did not explicitly agree with the statement nor repudiate it.

He also briefly discussed the Islamic concept of "jihad," which he defined as "holy war," and said that violence in the name of religion was contrary to God's nature and to reason.

But he also suggested reason as the basis for "that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today."

Benedict, a respected theologian, is said to write many speeches himself, and some commentators in the Italian press speculated that the Vatican would be forced into a more stringent review of his statements in the future.

The controversy came with the establishment of a new top Vatican hierarchy, whose first job will be to contain the controversy: In addition to appointing Mamberti as foreign minister, the pope installed a new secretary of state, the Vatican's highest position after the pope. He is Cardinal Tarcisco Bertone, 71, an Italian and a longtime colleague of the pope's.

Amid the angry reactions, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who met with the pope on his trip there, defended his speech.

"Whoever criticizes the Pope misunderstood the aim of his speech," she was quoted as saying in the Bild newspaper. "It was an invitation to a dialogue between religions and the Pope expressly spoke in favor of this dialogue, which is something I also support and consider urgent and necessary."

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Losing Hearts and Minds: World Public Opinion and post-9/11 US Security Policy

By Carl Conetta

Al-Jazeerah, September 17, 2006 www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion

Project on Defense Alternatives Briefing Memo #37
14 September 2006

Gone are the days...when 200,000 Germans marched in Berlin to show solidarity with their American allies, or when Le Monde, the most prestigious French newspaper, could publish a large headline, 'We Are All Americans.'"

-- Richard Bernstein, New York Times, 11 September 2003.¹ 

The sympathy and support for the United States that surged worldwide in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks ²  began to ebb as soon as US bombs began falling on Afghanistan.³  Supportive sentiments continued to recede through 2004, driven increasingly by the Iraq war and eventually settling at levels unseen since the early 1980s. The trend has temporarily reversed in some places at some times, either in response to hopeful news from Iraq (such as the December 2004 elections) or in reaction to local events (the November 2005 terrorist bombing in Jordan). Also, there are national exceptions to the trend (Israel) and partial exceptions (India). On balance, however, the United States today finds world opinion substantially at odds with its foreign policy and its leadership on most particulars.

This memo reviews the polling evidence on current world attitudes regarding the United States and its leadership in the area of security policy. The survey concludes by examining some of the political repercussions of these popular attitudes, especially in the Muslim world.

Among allied nations: pro-US sentiments plummet

Polls conducted by the Pew Research Center show a precipitous decline in positive attitudes about the United States since the year 2000 in eight of 12 countries for which multi-year comparisons can be made.⁴  According to the Pew polls, the proportion of the population feeling positively toward the United States has plummeted in Great Britain from 83 percent to 56, in France from 62 percent to 39, in Germany from 78 percent to 37, and in Spain from 50 percent to 23. Japan, too, has seen a decline.

Similarly, polls by the German Marshall Fund and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs have found a significant and uniform decline in positive feelings toward the United States between 2002 and 2006 in the European countries they surveyed.⁵  Today, in France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Poland -- all of them NATO allies -- negative feelings about the United States are almost as frequent as positive ones. In Spain, negative sentiments predominate.

Among Muslim populations: Fear and disapproval grow

The steepest declines found by the Pew polls, however, occurred in Indonesia, Jordan, and Turkey -- all three notable as moderate or democratic Muslim-majority states. Positive attitudes toward the United States are shared by only 30 percent of Indonesians and 15 percent or less of Jordanians and Turks. Only in Nigeria have attitudes toward America notably improved since 2000. Positive attitudes in Pakistan have marginally improved since 2000 -- to 27 percent today (although this is much improved from the 10 percent level recorded in 2002).

By contrast, China scores much better than the United States in all six Muslim countries queried in the Pew polls. Russia also scores better than the United States -- and usually much better -- in all but one country, Morocco.

Very low US popularity ratings in the Arab world also have been recorded in several Zogby International polls.⁶ 

• In Egypt and Saudi Arabia the segments feeling positively toward the United States has receded and now stands at 14 and 9 percent, respectively.
• Positive feelings have receded in Morocco and Jordan, too, although the segments feeling positively are not as small: 33 and 34 percent, respectively.
• In the UAE and Lebanon, the population segments feeling positively toward the United States actually grew larger between 2000 and 2006 (although only marginally so in Lebanon). Even with this improvement, however, only 28 percent of the UAE's population and 32 percent of Lebanon's feel positively toward America.

Perhaps more troublesome than America's low popularity rating in Arab and Muslim countries are widespread perceptions in these counties that the United States might target them.⁷  Significant majorities of between 59 and 80 percent in Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon believe that the United States could pose a military threat to their homelands.

War against what?

Majorities in Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, and Pakistan have expressed doubts about America's sincerity in the global war on terrorism (GWOT). (Majorities in France and Germany have expressed similar doubts). Popular alternative explanations (especially in the Muslim world) are that America actually seeks through the GWOT to control world oil supplies, target unfriendly Muslim governments, achieve world hegemony, and/or support Israel.⁸ 

Suspicion also runs high among Muslims in GWOT lead countries: the United States and the United Kingdom. A BBC poll in 2002 found 70 percent of Muslims in the United Kingdom not believing Tony Blair's assurances that the "war on terrorism" was not actually a "war on Islam".⁹  In the United States, a poll conducted by Zogby International for Hamilton College found about one-third of American Muslims perceiving the "war on terror" as a "war on Islam."¹⁰ 

Since 2002, the Pew Center has routinely tracked support for the US-led GWOT in a number of countries.

• In Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Poland, the proportion of citizens supporting the US effort equaled or surpassed 60 percent early in the period. Since then, support has fallen in each country by an average of 20 percentage points.
• In some other nations, the decline has been even more significant -- for instance: in Spain, popular support for the US effort has fallen from 63 percent to 19 percent; in Japan, from 61 to 26 percent; and in Turkey, from 30 to 14 percent.
• In Lebanon, support for the GWOT has declined modestly from 38 to 31 percent. Interestingly, support for the US effort has risen somewhat in Indonesia (from 31 to 39 percent), Jordan (13 to 16 percent), and Pakistan (20 to 30 percent), while remaining a minority position. The results in Indonesia and Pakistan may partially reflect the effects of US humanitarian aid to those countries in response to natural disasters. The Jordanian case may reflect a reaction to the November 2005 terrorist bombing there, which killed 57 people.
• No comparative data is available for Egypt, but in 2006 only 10 percent of the population expressed support for the US campaign.¹¹ 

Iraq rejected as an example; war seen to bolster terrorism

Turning to assessments of the Iraq war: support for the effort was weak from the start outside of the United States and a few other countries. A 2006 poll sponsored by the BBC found that in 33 of the 35 countries surveyed the most common opinion was that the war in Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism.¹²  On average 60 percent had this view, while 12 percent thought it had decreased the threat. The 35 countries represented a sampling of five continents and the Middle East.

The Bush administration has viewed Iraq as pivotal to democratic transition in the region, hoping that it would serve as a positive example of democratization. Instead, nations in the region have come to see it as a negative example. This is confirmed by polls conducted during 2004 and 2005 by the University of Maryland and Zogby International in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE.¹³ 

US becoming pariah state

In light of the above, it is not surprising that a 2005 poll of 23 nations found large percentages of citizens feeling that, on balance, the United States was having a mostly negative influence on world affairs.¹⁴  Majorities or pluralities held this view in 16 of the 23 nations surveyed. France and China were perceived much more positively and, in 20 of the 23 countries surveyed, there was majority support for a greater European role in the world and a smaller American one.

Although global public sentiments regarding the United States do not directly or immediately translate into policy change, voters in several allied countries -- the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain -- have punished their governments for pro-American stances. Political effects are more evident in Arab and Muslim countries.

Political advance of Islamic fundamentalism

Parallel with America's post-9/11 wars and counter-terror efforts, radical Islamic parties have increased their political influence substantially in more than a dozen nations, often campaigning explicitly against what they describe as a "war against Islam". Winning more votes during the past five years than ever before, such parties have advanced their positions in Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

In Turkey and the Palestinian territories they now lead governments and probably could win power in Egypt, too, should fully free elections be conducted there. In Iraq, fundamentalist parties dominate government; in Iran, the conservative former mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rose to presidential office in a campaign explicitly challenging US policy. In Lebanon, the influence and popularity of Hizbullah grew substantially during the post-9/11 period. Even its miscalculation in raiding Israel in July 2006 has not dented its support, with one poll showing more than 80 percent of Lebanese backing its confrontational stance.¹⁵ 

In Bangladesh, Islamic parties have consolidated their position in the post-9/11 period, after winning a major role in government in October 2001. And, in Somalia, the Supreme Islamic Courts Council has become the predominant force in the country, although not by electoral means. US support for the opposing Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism and likely US support for the Ethiopian incursion into Somalia have only rebounded to the Courts' favor, which is attracting increasing support from warlord groups on the basis of nationalist appeals.

A broader disaffection: the "Muslim street" and pan-Islamic action

Although popular protests in the Arab and Muslim worlds have occasioned the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and some of these protests were quite large, neither the "Arab street" (nor the Muslim one) have risen up in persistent, active opposition to US policy. But common expectations about the volatility of the "Arab street" betray a naive view of social process. They also may overestimate the intensity of pan-Arab and, especially, pan-Islamic solidarity.

For most people in the Muslim world, national, tribal, or local identity tends to be as strong or stronger than Islamic identity -- as shown in recent Zogby polls of the Middle East.¹⁶  "Islam" may be an integral part of these national and local identities. But the fact that national or local concerns, perspectives, and interests predominate, means that feelings and acts of solidarity are attenuated. This does not mean, however, that solidarity does not function; both the polling and electoral data show that it does -- but usually in ways subtler than the "Arab/Muslim street" trope suggests.

Obviously, repressive political conditions also limit mass expressions of solidarity. Additionally: avenues for effective action regarding distant events may seem lacking, which can make protest seem pointless. Nonetheless, on occasion, the "street" does erupt in response to some "distant event" -- as it did in May 2005 over the alleged desecration of the Quran at the US Guantanamo prison camp and again in Fall 2005 over the Danish publication of offensive caricatures of Mohammed.

The Guantanamo-Quran report prompted demonstrations and disturbances in more than nine countries, resulting in the deaths of at least 15 people. In response to the Mohammed caricatures, protests or riots occurred in at least 18 Muslim-majority nations. The largest involved more than 70,000 people. As many as 150 were killed in cartoon related violence in Nigeria; perhaps 30 were killed in violence elsewhere.

The two sets of protests should be viewed, substantially, as "condensation points" for anger arising from America's three post-9/11 wars. The events of 2001-2005 provided the fuel, if not the spark. Certainly, this is how some leaders of the protests framed them. Yet, neither of these series of protests were motivated principally by "solidarity" with Iraqis or Afghanis or anyone else. They were instead prompted by perceived insults to Islam, which directly engaged believers across the world. In both cases, this was the spark or precipitating factor.

It is also noteworthy that, for the participants, the protests were not principally meant to achieve some remote effect. Instead, they were affirmations of devotion and identity. As such, they were inherently "efficacious". Finally, in many countries, the demonstrations were enabled by political authorities, perhaps for reasons of legitimation.

It may be that only direct challenges to Islam -- whether real or perceived -- have the power to precipitate mass pan-Islamic action. Such "assaults" may not engage a "worldwide Muslim community" as much as they constitute it -- bringing together what is otherwise, usually disaggregated or divided into national or tribal communities. If this is so, then there is good reason to be concerned about the Bush administration's decision to re-invent the "war on terror" as a war on radical Islamic movements. It may help precipitate the threat it purports to defend against.

Recent US military strategy explicitly lists a number of defining characteristics of Islamic extremism. Among these are adherence to such concepts as the Caliphate, Jihad, and Islamic Law. Unfortunately, under various interpretations, some or all of these enjoy at least mild assent among a very substantial percentage of the world's Muslims -- the vast majority of whom are not insurgent, violent, or even especially political. But it may not escape their attention that important tenets of Islam, like Sharia, now figure centrally in Pentagon threat assessment and strategy. As noted above, substantial percentages of Muslim populations already suspect that the "war on terrorism" is, in fact, a "war on Islam". In trying to "ideologize" the threat, present policy inadvertently encourages such beliefs.

Conclusion: the World Against Us

Since the advent of the Afghan war, world public opinion has trended strongly against US global leadership, both generally and, especially, regarding national security affairs. This, as a response to a set of US policy practices -- particularly the Iraq war and conduct of the "war on terrorism". The political counterpart to this trend has developed unevenly -- thus, opening gaps between some governments and their citizens. These gaps may slowly close, as they have in Spain and Italy, materially diminishing allied support for US policies. Otherwise, effective political resistance to US initiatives has been sporadic, although a tipping point may come. Of course, even sporadic opposition or passive opposition to US policies can significantly reduce their effectiveness or increase their cost. This was made clear by Turkish refusal to allow transit of its territory and overflights during the opening phase of the Iraq war. This prevented the opening of an effective northern front in that war; subsequently, the areas to the north of Baghdad became a haven for fleeing Baathists and a redoubt for insurgents. Pakistan, China, Russia, Germany, and France also have been able to impede some important US policy initiatives.

Perhaps the greatest concerns about the drift of world opinion is that (1) in the Muslim world it is increasing the political power of fundamentalist parties and providing a more fertile environment for the activity of terrorist organizations, while (2) also creating favorable opinion worldwide for powers that purportedly seek to balance against the United States -- namely China and Russia.

Notes

1. Richard Bernstein; "Two Years Later: World Opinion; Foreign Views of US Darken after Sept. 11," New York Times, 11 September 2003.

2. "Southeast Asian leaders adopt anti-terror statement," Agence France Presse, 4 November 2001; OIC Press Release, The OIC Secretary General Strongly Condemning the Terrorist Attacks that Caused the Death of a Great Number of Innocent People (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Organization of the Islamic Conference, 1 October 2001); "A country by country look at actions taken internationally as United States plans retaliatory moves," Associated Press, 17 September 2001; "Arabs support war against terrorism, refrain from backing military action," Agence France Presse, 15 September 2001; Suzanne Daley, "Russia Condemns Attacks on the U.S. and Vows to Aid NATO," New York Times, 14 September 2001; Robert Wielaard, "Stunned EU Vows to Stand by US," Associated Press, 12 September 2001; and, "Palestinian leadership condemns US attacks, denies celebrations," Agence France Presse, 12 September 2001.

3. "US-Arab relations 'in crisis'," BBC News, 10 November 2001; "Jakarta increases pressure on US to end bombing," The Age, 4 November 2001; Karen DeYoung, "Job of Maintaining Coalition Toughens; World Response to Bombing Ranges From Silence and Support to Public Protests," Washington Post, 10 October 2001, p. 17; Matthew Engel, "Muslim allies break ranks with US: Key Muslim allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan break ranks with US over bombing," The Guardian (London), 16 October 2001; Arie Farnam, "Bombings hit unintended target: European opinion," Christian Science Monitor, 14 November 2001; Paul Mann and Michael A. Taverna, "Europe Wary Of Prolonged Bombing," Aviation Week & Space Technology, 22 October 2001; Alissa J. Rubin, "Bombing Alters Afghans' Views of US," Los Angeles Times, 5 November 2001; and, Kevin Sullivan, "War Support Ebbs Worldwide; Sept 11 Doesn't Justify Bombing many say," Washington Post, 6 November 2001.

4. America's Image Slips, but Allies Share US Concerns Over Iran, Hamas (Washington DC: Pew Research Center, 13 June 2006); and, US Image Up Slightly, But Still Negative (Washington DC: Pew Research Center, June 2005).

5. Transatlantic Trends 2005 (Washington DC: German Marshall Fund, 2005); and, World Views 2002 (Washington DC and Chicago IL: German Marshall Fund and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, 2002).

6. James Zogby, Attitudes of Arabs: An In-depth Look at Social and Political Concerns of Arabs (Washington DC: Arab American Institute and Zogby International, 2005); and, Dafna Linzer, "Poll Shows Growing Arab Rancor at US," Washington Post, 23 July 2004, p. 26.

7. A Year After Iraq War: Mistrust of America in Europe Ever Higher, Muslim Anger Persists (Washington DC: Pew Research Center, March 2004).

8. A Year After Iraq War: Mistrust of America in Europe Ever Higher, Muslim Anger Persists (Washington DC: Pew Research Center, March 2004).

9. Robin Aitken, "Islam Poll," Today show, BBC Radio 4, 23 December, 2002; http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/archive/politics/muslim_poll.pdf

10. Hamilton College and Zogby International, Muslim America Poll (Clinton NY: Hamilton College, 20 May 2002).

11. America's Image Slips, but Allies Share US Concerns Over Iran, Hamas (Washington DC: Pew Research Center, 13 June 2006); and, US Image Up Slightly, But Still Negative (Washington DC: Pew Research Center, June 2005).

12. World Public Says Iraq War has Increased Global Terrorist Threat (Washington DC: Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), February 2006.

13. James Zogby, Attitudes of Arabs: An In-depth Look at Social and Political Concerns of Arabs (Washington, DC: Arab American Institute and Zogby International, 2005); and, Shibley Telhami, Arab Attitudes Toward Political and Social Issues, Foreign Policy, and the Media (College Park, MD: Sadat Chair for Peace and Development, University of Maryland, October 2005).

14. In 20 of 23 Countries Polled Citizens Want Europe to Be More Influential Than US (Washington DC: Program on International Policy Attitudes, April 2005).

15. Beirut Center for Research and Data, Poll finds support for Hizbullah's retaliation; Opinions diverge on sectarian lines -- but not completely (Beirut: 29 July 2006).

16. James Zogby, Attitudes of Arabs: An In-depth Look at Social and Political Concerns of Arabs (Washington DC: Arab American Institute and Zogby International, 2005). On the nationalistic character of Islam, see: Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).

Citation: Carl Conetta, Losing Hearts and Minds: World Public Opinion and post-9/11 US Security Policy, Cambridge, MA: Commonwealth Institute Project on Defense Alternatives Briefing Memo #37, 05 September 2006. http://www.comw.org/pda/0609bm37.html

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The Vatican's secretary of state said he hopes Pope Benedict XVI will go to Turkey despite the uproar

AP Sept. 17, 2006

VATICAN CITY  — The Vatican's secretary of state said he hopes Pope Benedict XVI will go to Turkey despite the uproar over the pontiff's remarks about Islam and holy war, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

"I hope that he will do" the trip, ANSA quoted Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as saying when asked about the pope's plans to visit predominantly Muslim nation in late November. "Until now, there are no reasons not to make it."

The trip would be Benedict's first papal pilgrimage to a largely Muslim country.

Bertone, the pope's apostolic vicar in Anatolia, Turkey, said participants at a bishops' conference in Istanbul were expected to discuss the pontiff's pilgrimage to Turkey on Monday. The trip mainly had been planned to give Benedict the chance to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians.

But State Minister Mehmet Aydin, who oversees religious affairs in Turkey, said the pope must offer a proper apology for comments about Islam he made in a speech in Germany on Tuesday.

Benedict, quoting from an obscure Medieval text, had cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam's founder, as "evil and inhuman" — prompting outrage among Muslims worldwide, including in Turkey.

On Sunday, Benedict said in Italy that he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction to his speech, and said the text did not reflect his personal opinion.

Aydin said the apology was not enough.

"You either have to say this 'I'm sorry," in a proper way or not say it at all," he told reporters in Istanbul. "Are you sorry for saying such a thing or because of its consequences?"

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Eurasia Insight:
TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY MOVING AWAY FROM US POSITION – EXPERT
Joshua Kucera: 9/15/06 www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/eav091506a_pr.shtml

The moderate Islamist government in power in Turkey is steering the country away from a pro-US foreign policy and is rapidly orienting itself with its Muslim neighbors, a regional expert said during testimony before a congressional committee September 14.

Soner Cagaptay, a fellow at the conservative-leaning Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that ever since the Justice and Development Party (AKP in Turkish), took power in 2002, Ankara has viewed foreign policy issues increasingly through the prism of religion.

Cagaptay spoke at a congressional hearing under the topic “Is There a Clash of Civilizations?: Islam, Democracy, and US-Middle East Policy.” He argued that while Turkey before 2002 could have been used as a strong example to debunk the notions of a “clash of civilizations” between the Muslim and western worlds, that is no longer the case.

Once steadfast allies, the United States and Turkey have experienced bilateral tension in recent years, mainly connected with the Iraq invasion and the subsequent imbroglio. The Bush administration became enraged with the AKP government on the eve of the US-led blitz against Iraq in 2003, when Turkey declined to grant temporary basing rights to US troops. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Domestically, the AKP has been facing growing pressure from nationalist constituencies. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

“Today … US-Turkish relations are strained on almost all Middle East issues. From their views of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah to dealing with Iran and Syria, the United States and Turkey have developed vastly disparate positions since the AKP came to power,” Cagaptay said.

The rapprochement with Turkey’s Muslim neighbors has gone both ways. Iran has tried to gain favor lately with Ankara by adopting a tough stand against Kurdish militants affiliated with the PKK, who are active in the mountainous area that connects southeastern Turkey with Iran and Iraq. At the same time, Ankara and Tehran remain divided over energy issues. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In August, Washington took a step towards mollifying Turkey by appointing Joseph Ralston, a retired four-star general, as a special envoy with responsibility for “coordinating US engagement with the government of Turkey and the government of Iraq to eliminate the terrorist threat of the PKK and other terrorist groups operating in northern Iraq and across the Turkey-Iraq border,” according to a State Department statement.

Cagaptay said the strategy of the AKP to orient its foreign policy toward its Muslim neighbors is meant, at least in part, as a political strategy. “If the Turks think of themselves as Muslims first in the foreign-policy arena, then one day they’ll think of themselves as Muslims first in the domestic one,” Cagaptay said.

He noted that the Turkish public tends to follow its rulers’ lead: A recent survey showed that only 12 percent of Turks viewed the United States positively, down from 52 percent in 2000.

Editor’s Note: Joshua Kucera is a Washington, DC,-based freelance writer who specializes in security issues in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East.

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TURKEY – VATICAN

Pope’s trip at risk as Turkey becomes less secular

By Mavi Zambak 17 September, 2006 http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7232

The controversy surrounding the Pope’s speech on the relationship between Islam and violence seems to have been planned to bolster Turkey’s fundamentalist nationalism. Turkish Christians call on moderate Muslims to speak out if they don’t want their country to betray Atatürk’s legacy and democracy

Ankara (AsiaNews) – Turkey’s Christians are horrified by the reaction out of proportion to the Pope’s university speech. Increasingly, people are wondering whether this reaction was planned by local mass media to reignite an anti-Christian diatribe that never truly died in the last few months. Turkish Christians appeal to “moderate Muslims to have the courage to speak out and show, first of all, that Muslims have not lost their mind and are still capable to engage others in a rational dialogue without clashing and resorting to violence and threats like months ago over the Muhammad cartoons affair.”

The Pontiff: “arrogant” leader or sharp scholar?

For an important Turkish public figure, who chose to remain anonymous (which says a lot about the current situation), the Pope’s speech in Regensburg was no accident. Of all the thousands of quotes the Holy Father could choose why did he have to pick the one by Manuel II Manuel II Palaiologos on the links between Islam and violence?

Is the Pontiff “an ignorant and arrogant provocateur” as the Turkish press continues to characterise him today? Or is there something more? There are in fact some who think otherwise.

As a sharp scholar and theologian, it is not possible to think that the Holy Father did not take into account that his choice of quote would not provoke an uproar in a world like ours, in this very global village, where every little word, especially by a prominent leader, is scrutinised, its resonance amplified, its meaning extrapolated and distorted by the mass media.

For the aforementioned anonymous Turkish public figure, the Pope’s choice of quote was a deliberate litmus test ahead of his crucial trip to Turkey, the first Muslim (and secular) state he is scheduled (perhaps) to visit. And the Turkish government fell for it by siding with the defenders of the Islamist camp and its profound religious identity.

Turkey threw itself head first in the media war; Turkish politicians didn’t pull any punches. In so doing though they lost a golden opportunity to demonstrate that their country was “truly” committed to the separation of state and religion, to democracy and against ideological fanaticism and political radicalism.

First act in this play was the intervention by Turkey’s minister of Religious Affairs, Ali Bardakoglu, who, as if he had any authority in the matter, called for the cancellation of the apostolic visit. Then Prime Minister Erdoğan slammed the Pope for his “ugly and inappropriate” words without looking into the overall meaning of the Pope’s speech and who failed to see that the Pope was calling for a dialogue between faith and reason against all forms of violence and preconceived ideology.

Under the circumstances where was Turkey’s secularism? Where are the moderate Islamists who make Turkey so proud?

What is apparent is that a process is underway that is eroding the foundations of the secular state founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. As the Kemalist veneer is removing the ever-present but hitherto hidden religious substratum is re-emerging.

For Bishop Luigi Padovese, vicar apostolic to Anatolia, “Turkish society is going through a transition; it changing from a ‘solid’ to a ‘liquid state’. Western influence—which is trickling into the country through trade, tourism, the mass media and especially the desire of much of the population and the government to join the European Union—is seen as a threat to Turkey’s highly nationalistic ethos whose advocates thought they could have democracy without pluralism, at least in its ethnic and religious dimensions. Atatürk’s secularism is losing much of its original character under changing political and religious circumstances. Turkish society is reverting back to a more fanatical religiosity based that equate being Turkish with being Muslim. All this is fuelling tensions and raising doubts about the Turkish government’s ability to preserve the Turkish Republic’s secular, moderate and democratic character”.

This raises another question. Is there a moderate Islam that can show the world that an Islamic democracy is possible?

The telling silence of moderate Muslims

Is there no better time for moderate Muslims to speak up than now? Why aren’t they distancing themselves from the sort of religious fanaticism that, like wildfire, is spreading irrationalism in response to a quote made by the Pope from some ancient source?

The harsh reactions by Turkish political leaders and mass media have surprised and saddened Christian authorities in Turkey. No voice trying to appease emotions has yet spoken out against this explosive and obnoxious cacophony.

Mgr Padovese himself knows that there are the great “many fair-minded people in Turkey. They should be the first to stand up against the fundamentalists, but instead they have no voice in chapter and are silent out of fear or as a result of intimidation”.

Unlike his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI is no globetrotter, but he must have realised the importance of his visit to Turkey. From the beginning of his pontificate, he stressed that ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue was one of his priorities. For this reason, if he does go to Istanbul on November 30 to meet Bartholomew I to discuss intra-Christian matters, and goes to Ankara to talk to Muslims, knowing that he is facing hard-nosed Kemalists like President Sezer and military leaders, and nationalist fringes like the Grey Wolves, he might have expected to rely on Erdoğan (who comes from the Nur or ‘light’ movement), on Gülen whose Islam espouses clemency and mercy, and on the growing number of Sufi movements.

It is from this kind of Islam that the Pope could have expected support against terrorism in all its forms, and found allies backing him in defending the principle that every life is sacred and that no intention, however, sacred, can justify and legalise actions against another human being.

What will happen now?

Tomorrow the Bishops’ Conference of Turkey will meet in Istanbul. Its members were supposed to discuss routine matters about the final preparations for the Pope’s visit. Instead, they will now have to decide whether the Pope’s visit to Turkey’s can go ahead in such a hostile climate.

One thing is certain though. The Pope’s trip is not the only thing at risk; Turkey’s secular character is as well.

09/15/2006 TURKEY -VATICAN - Islamic nationalists in Turkey protest against visit ...
09/16/2005 TURKEY - VATICAN - Christians disappointed: Ankara has put off the pope’s ...
07/3/2006 TURKEY - Fr Brunissen stabbed amid anti-Christian scenario ...
12/12/2004 VATICAN - The crèche is a sign of culture and faith, Pope says
09/15/2006 islam - vatican - Benedict XVI’s words spark calls for apologies and ...
 

Islam row puts Pope's Turkey visit in doubt
RTE.ie - Ireland
Next month's visit by Pope Benedict to Turkey, which is a predominately Muslim country, appears to be in doubt following his remarks about Islam earlier this ...

Turkish media focus on protests against Pope
Catholic World News - USA
Sep. 15 (AsiaNews) - The Muslim-dominated media in Turkey, which had been silent about plans for a November visit by Pope Benedict ...

Turkish bestseller: “Who will kill the Pope in Istanbul?”
Hot Air - MD,USA
... In a little more than 300 pages, Kaya manages to weave the Turkish Secret Service, the infamous Masonic lodge P2, and (of course) Opus Dei into his plot line. ...

Pope's remarks "won't affect Turkish visit" say Ankara sources
Raw Story - Cambridge,MA,USA
Ankara- Remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam will not affect his planned visit to Turkey in November, Turkish foreign ministry sources were quoted as

Turkish PM urges pope to apologise for Islam remarks
Turkish Press - Plymouth,MI,USA
ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called on Pope Benedict XVI to apologise for his "unfortunate, ugly" remarks on Islam ...

Turkish PM asks pope to apologize for comments on Islam
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday asked Pope Benedict XVI to apologize for his recent comments on Islam, Turkey's semi-official Anatolia

Turkey's top Muslim leader asks pope to retract comments about ...
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
Turkey's top Muslim leader Ali Bardakoglu on Friday asked Pope Benedict XVI to retract and make an apology for his recent comments criticizing Islam, the semi ...

Couchepin backs Pope's Islam comments
NZZ Online - Zurich,Switzerland
... Couchepin didn't think the Pope had insulted Islam but admitted that he had been careless ? "he spoke like a professor and forgot ...
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Nun Shot to Death; Possible Retaliation for Pope's Islam Remarks
All Headline News - USA
... Somali gunmen Sunday. The murder happened just hours after a Muslim cleric condemned Pope Benedict XVI for his remarks on Islam. ...
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Muslims Fume at Pope's Islam Jibe
Islam Online - Doha,Qatar
WORLD CAPITALS — Pope Benedict XVI's criticism of Islam and the Islamic concept of Jihad as unreasonable and against God's nature has sparked furor in the ...

‘Muslims should forgive Pope’
Mumbai Mirror - India
... Firangimahali disagreed with the demand from a section of Muslims that Pope should quit saying that it is up to the Christians to decide about it. ...
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Pope issues explanation, not apology to angry Muslims
News 8 Austin - Austin,TX,USA
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy -- Pope Benedict said remarks he made last week that have angered Muslims worldwide do not reflect his personal opinion. ...
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Pope sorry for offending Muslims
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation - Nairobi,Kenya
Pope Benedict XVI has apologised in person for causing offence to Muslims in a speech in Bavaria last week. He said the medieval ...
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Pope Says Sorry Again For Offending Muslims
newswire.co.nz - Havelock Nth,Hawkes Bay,New Zealand
Pope Benedict XVI has said sorry in person for causing offence to Muslims in a speech in Bavaria last week. He said the medieval ...
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Pope's apology fails to placate Muslims as violence goes on
Independent - London,England,UK
... "If the Pope does not apologise, Muslims' anger will continue until he becomes remorseful," he went on. "He should go to clerics ...
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Pope Apologizes Personally to Muslims
Deutsche Welle - Germany
... which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims," the pope said during the traditional Angelus blessing from his summer residence at Castel ...

Germany`s Muslims welcome Pope`s statement
Zee News - Noida,India
Berlin, Sept 17: The Central Council of Muslims in Germany on Sunday welcomed Pope Benedict XVI`s expression of sorrow for having outraged the Muslim world by ...
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Pope's explanation accepted by some Muslim leaders, but others say ...
San Diego Union Tribune - United States
... Germany's Central Council of Muslims welcomed the pope's comments Sunday as “the most important step to calm the protest” and urged the Vatican to seek ...
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Churches firebombed as Muslims demand further apology
Ireland Online - Dublin,Ireland
... Days later as word of the Pope’s speech spread, Muslims around the world responded with anger and violence despite the Vatican’s insistence that the Pope ...
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Benedict eager to modernise arcane world of Vatican Bank
Times Online - UK
POPE BENEDICT XVI may be thought to have enough on his plate after his trip to Germany last week — not least placating the Muslim world over his remarks on ...
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Church stands by pope
Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai,India
NEW DELHI: The Catholic Church in India stood by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday ... country, said it was never the pontiff’s intention to hurt Muslim sentiments and ...
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I am deeply sorry: Pope
Hindustan Times - India
... On Tuesday, the pope had cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who ... evil and inhuman” — remarks that touched off widespread anger across the Muslim world.
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Pope sorry for Muslim reaction
DailyIndia.com - Niskayuna,NY,USA
17 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict said at his Sunday blessing from Castal Gandolfo, Italy, he was "deeply sorry" for the anger his remarks on Islam caused. ...

Muslim Brotherhood sees "sufficient" Pope apology
Malaysia Star - Malaysia
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said Pope Benedict had apologised sufficiently on Sunday for remarks on Islam that angered many in the Muslim world ...

Israeli chief rabbi 'very sorry' about pope's remarks on Islam
Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK
... In a September Tuesday speech, Pope Benedict caused outrage in the Muslim world by quoting a 14th-century Christian emperor as referring to elements of Islam
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Nun shot dead as Pope fails to calm militant Muslims
Times Online - UK
... But Muhammad Abdul Bari, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “It’s certainly a welcome step that the Pope recognises the hurt that ...
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Quote on Islam does not reflect my views: Pope
Hindu - Chennai,India
... Italian nun and her bodyguard at the entrance of a hospital where she worked, in an attack some feared could be linked to Muslim outrage over the Pope's remarks
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Pope says speech didn’t reflect his personal opinion
Indian Express - New Delhi,India
... on Sunday after Pope Benedict’s apology.The leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said the apology was sufficient and that the Islamic political group’s ...
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Italian nun shot dead in Somalia
Jerusalem Post - Israel
... The Islamic courts are credited with bringing a semblance of order to the ... blamed Sunday's shooting on the recent controversy over a speech Pope Benedict XVI
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The Moral Victory of The Pope
Brussels Journal - Brussel,Belgium
... In essence she said, in a diplomatic manner of course, that the Islamic leaders who are demanding excuses from the Pope should either first read the text of ...
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Benedict is right
Ynetnews - Israel
... the Pope's declaration. We may succeed, God forbid, to convince the enlightened world we're the reason for international terror and not the Islamic religion in ...
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Vatican Believes Pope will Still Visit Turkey
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
Despite the recent tension in the Islamic world, the Vatican believes Roman Catholic leader Pope XVI Benedict will still pay a visit to Turkey in November. ...
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Pope's remarks condemned by Qatar
Bahrain News Agency - Bahrain
... told Qatar News Agency that the Pope's remarks were absolutely rejected as they contradicted the historical human message of the Islamic religion which was ...
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Pope’s remarks an insult, says Afghan govt
Online - International News Network - Islamabad,Pakistan
The foreign ministry said the Pope should apologise for the remarks, a demand ... Many misunderstandings and misperceptions in the West about the Islamic world are ...
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Churches Firebombed by Members of the "Religion of Peace"
The Conservative Voice - Kernersville,NC,USA
... Arab's most powerful organization, said the Pope’s apology was not enough and demanded that the Pontiff make amends for his comments on the Islamic religion.
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Sheik says, 'kill the Pope'
Melbourne Herald Sun - Australia
... prayers. "We call on all Islamic communities across the world to take revenge on the baseless critic called the Pope," he said. The ...
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Pope’s remarks an insult, says Afghan govt
Online - International News Network - Islamabad,Pakistan
... killed earlier this year in nationwide protests over cartoons depicting the ... apologise before the Muslim umma (nation)," purported spokesman Mohammad Hanif said ...

Muslims in uproar; Pope misunderstood: Vatican
Arab Times - Kuwait
... A row earlier this year over Danish cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammad deepened the sense of a divide between Islamic culture and the West. ...
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A question of faith and religion
Gulf News - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
... And in Lebanon, the Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah demanded an apology for ... He was sympathetic to their reaction to the Danish cartoons, and he was ...

Linking Islam with terror wrong: Aziz
Islamic Republic News Agency - Tehran,Iran
... Emphasizing the need to forge unity among Muslim countries, the prime minister said the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) should be transformed into ...

Open Letter to Pope Benedict from Indian Muslims
Milli Gazette - India
... A systematic attempt is afoot globally to demonise Islam and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the recent manifestation of this was the cartoon controversy which had ...

Afghanistan: International Religious Freedom Report 2006
All American Patriots (press release) - Taeby,NA,Sweden
... The Danish cartoon controversy, in particular, resulted in several large demonstrations and ... in the Qur'an and the customary practices of the Prophet Muhammad. ...
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Somalia: Somali government condemns Pope’s slander on Islam
SomaliNet - USA
... In a speech in Germany on Tuesday, the Pope quoted the 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that ...

We cannot afford to maintain these ancient prejudices against ...
Guardian Unlimited - UK
... the popes were trying to impose celibacy on the reluctant clergy, Muhammad was portrayed by ... Coming on the heels of the Danish cartoon crisis, his remarks were ...
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Islamic intolerance
Jerusalem Post - Israel
... to themselves, be it in the form of Danish-commissioned caricature or learned ... reacting to caricatures that highlighted how the Prophet Muhammad's teachings are ...

Sep. 16, 2006: David Warren on Pope Benedict
National Review Online Blogs - New York,NY,USA
... It is worth adding, that in expressing their blind rage thus, they were illustrating not the Pope’s, but the Byzantine emperor’s caricature of Islam from ...

Leaders must carry us all towards peace
The Brunei Times - Bandar,Brunei,Brunei Darussalam
... the trauma caused by the Satanic Verses of Salman Rushdie and not so long ago, the controversial Danish cartoon caricaturing the Holy Prophet Mohammad SAW. ...

Spreading faith by the sword is 'evil and inhumane'
ProgressiveU.org - San Mateo,CA,USA
... A cartoon of Mohammad in a Danish magazine is hardly grounds for rioting and burning buildings, and these actions deserve no more respect or understanding than ...
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A question of faith and religion
Gulf News - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
... has yet to escalate to the level of the Danish cartoon controversy, but ... And in Lebanon, the Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah demanded an apology for ...

ANALYSIS - Both sides feel threats in Pope-Islam row
Malaysia Star - Malaysia
... like recent controversies over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad or the death ... "This controversy has started out just like the cartoon crisis," said ...

Pope sees silver lining in furor over Islam quote
CBC News - Canada
... were attacked in Palestinian areas An Italian nun was slain by gunmen in Somalia hours after a leading Muslim cleric in Mogadishu condemned the Pope for his ...
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Local Muslim feared pope's comment may have ended dialogue
Canada Western Catholic Reporter - Edmonton,Alberta,Canada
Pope Benedict's comments responding to Muslim outrage over a speech in Germany were "really helpful," says a prominent member of the local Muslim community. ...
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Venezuela's Chavez urges pope to be more careful with his words
International Herald Tribune - France
... The pope did not issue the direct apology still demanded by some Muslim leaders who were offended by his remarks, which quoted a text characterizing some of ...
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Don't visit Istanbul, John Paul's attacker warns Pope
Guardian Unlimited - UK
... Agca spoke from prison amid continuing fury in the Muslim world over Pope Benedict XVI's remarks last week that were taken as critical of Islam. ...
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Uganda: What If the Pope Had Quoted a Nazi Writer?
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
The controversy consequent to the Pope's ill-judged statement about Islam and violence may not abate easily as different Muslim populations across the world ...
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Muslims, Catholics Meet In DC
NBC 4.com - Washington,DC,USA
... and Catholic organizations met at a news conference in Washington Wednesday to discuss recent remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that angered the Muslim community. ...
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Pope or dope?
Business Standard - India
The Pope has to ask himself if what he is doing in respect of Islam is what the world needs. He has been insisting on reciprocity, which means Muslim countries ...
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Arinday: Religious restiveness
Sun.Star - Philippines
... The pontiff's remarks vetted the anger of more Muslim enclaves and vent their ... Of course, Pope Benedict XVI made a personal apology which is unprecedented but ...
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Pope calls for respect and colloboration with Muslims
Independent Catholic News - London,UK
The Pope said his journey to the land of his birth had been not just "a ... importance of the subject, I quoted some words from a Christian-Muslim dialogue from ...
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American Muslims Accept Pope’s Apology
American Muslim - Bridgeton,MO,USA
We take Pope Benedict’s apology seriously and we urge American Muslims to take leadership positions to condemn religiously motivated violence and work more
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MUSLIMS WON’T FORGIVE THE POPE
Free Market News Network - Pompano Beach,FL,USA
Although Pope Benedict XVI has publicly apologised to Muslim leaders over his remarks after he made a speech about the concept of holy war, referring to ...
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Area Catholics, Muslims seek healing over pope
Detroit Free Press - United States
... Eide Alawan, interfaith spokesman for the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, said Tuesday that Muslims are frustrated and hurt by the pope's use of the ...

Pope Benedict and the Muslims
TCS Daily - Washington,DC,USA
... But it is more unfortunate to imagine that the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch would attempt to find common ground in the denigration of Muslims. ...
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Pope angers Muslims, al-Qaeda vows war on cross, but ‘Turkey ...
Catholic Online - Bakersfield,CA,USA
... some leaders of Islam responded with diplomatic caution, but many other Muslims here and there lashed out with anger and violence. In Iraq, the pope was burned

Text of Pope Benedict XVI's remarks
San Diego Union Tribune - United States
The official Vatican translation of Pope Benedict XVI's remarks, delivered in Italian Sunday about his Sept. 12 speech that sparked anger among Muslims. ...

Central Florida Muslims decry anti-pope violence
Orlando Sentinel - Orlando,FL,USA
While upset and in some cases insulted by Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks about the Prophet Muhammad, Central Florida Muslims are also appalled by the ...
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Lawyer: Pope gunman warns Benedict not to travel to Turkey
International Herald Tribune - France
... Secular Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted government accused him of trying to revive the ... faxed to the Associated Press by his lawyer that the pope was pressured

Some say apologies by pope are too much
International Herald Tribune - France
... If security was higher, following death threats on radical Islamic Web sites, it was hard to see: The pope arrived at the canopy in front St. ...
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The Pope, Violence and Dialogue
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
... and it will benefit global powers that direct military and political operations on the “Islamic terror” dialectic. It’s true that the pope has taken his ...
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Leading Islamic Figures Accept Pope's Apology
The Universe - Manchester,England,UK
By The Universe: Reaction to the Pope's controversial speech at Regensburg University appears to be dying down after two major figures in the Middle East ...
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Anger at pope ahead of Islam month of reconciliation
Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK
... the next few weeks when Muslims will abstain food and drink, will lead to the setting-aside of the dispute between Pope Benedict XVI and the Islamic community.
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Pope Expresses "Deep Respect" for Muslims
Zenit News Agency - Rome,Italy
... in an incomprehensively brusque way for us, presented to the Islamic interlocutor the ... this quotation has given room to a misunderstanding," the Pope said. ...
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Pope’s comments fail to specify Islamic radicals
Radford University The Tartan Online - Radford,VA,USA
... preached.”. The pope further suggested that the Islamic religion was irrational by quoting the academic, Theodore Khoury. “In ...
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I'ma Presbyterian but I back the Pope
Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom
... that Islam is a wolf in sheep's clothing and totally agree with the Pope in his ... a more sinister undertow that has more to do with the greater Islamic cause of ...
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Pope says anti-Islam quotes not his own views
Reuters Canada - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Wednesday that his use of medieval quotes critical of Islam in a speech in Germany last week, that infuriated ...

Pope: Islam Quote Not My Views
CBS News - New York,New York,USA
Pope Benedict XVI used his weekly audience in St Peter’s Square Wednesday to try ... the firestorm ignited by his quote a week ago that characterised Islam as a ...
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UCAN: Indonesian bishops apologize for pope's Islam comments ...
Catholic Online - Bakersfield,CA,USA
... UCAN) – The Indonesian Catholic bishops have issued a statement expressing regret and apologizing to Muslims for Pope Benedict XVI's citation on Islam in a ...
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Pope sorry over reaction to Islam speech
Reuters.uk - UK
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Sunday he was "deeply sorry" at the anger caused by his remarks on Islam and said a quote he used from a ...

Clinton, Gingrich Both Defend the Pope
Washington Post - United States
... House Speaker Newt Gingrich, longtime foes in American politics, forcefully defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday against a wave of Muslim criticism over a ...
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The Pope should know better than to endorse the idea of a war of ...
Guardian Unlimited - UK
... say, Catholicism the way they might attack, say, socialism - but the Pope, of all ... For many years people in Arab and Muslim lands have resented western meddling ...
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The Pope's Dilemma
Yahoo! News - USA
... In short, wherever Muslim sensibilities have been touched by Western challenges, the Pope has addressed their concerns in a sensitive and conciliatory manner.
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Militant group threatens Gaza Christians over pope's remarks
Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv,Israel
... by Islam," Hussein said. "The religion is clear, but I hold the Vatican Pope responsible for all the anger in the Muslim street.".
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Pope Benedict Criticizes Islam
FrontPage magazine.com - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... One hopes it is in the offing. Whatever the pope's purpose, he prompted the near-predictable furor in the Muslim world. Religious ...
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Musharraf urges world to tackle root causes of terrorism
International Herald Tribune - France
... be veiled references to the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq and Pope Benedict XVI's ... "Unless we end foreign occupation and suppression of Muslim peoples, terrorism ...
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'Pitting Christian figures against Muslims a plot'
IranMania News - Iran
... "Pope Benedict XVI has raised unreal claims, which stem from his unawareness of Islam. His claims have been heart rending for all the world Muslims," he added.

Only a meanminded religious leader can spread hatred
The New Nation - Bangladesh
... Islam. It is natural that Muslim anger is growing at the Pope. Muslims demand an apology from him for his anti-Islam comments. A ...

Pope’s Speech Again Demonstrated The Fragility of Islam
Iran Press Service - Paris,France
... really unfortunate" and a setback for efforts to promote better understanding between religions and cultures. ENDS POPE MUSLIMS 20906.
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East Valley Muslims extend hand
East Valley Tribune - Mesa,AZ,USA
... Many Muslims say the pope insulted their religion last week by referencing old texts to describe Islam as “evil and inhuman” and gaining converts at the ...
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Local Muslims Hope To Educate After Pope's Remarks
CBS 42 - Austin,TX,USA
Muslims around the world, and here in Austin, are offended by the comments. Though they appreciate the Pope's apology, Muslims were hurt by the comments. ...
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Conflict between Christians and Muslims
Louisville Courier-Journal - Louisville,KY,USA
... Muslim world is "livid over pope's remarks," including comparing the Pope with Hitler ... If moderate Muslims fail to take hold and if the message of intolerance ...
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The Pope Disrupts Religious Harmony
FrontPage magazine.com - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... ever tried to attack the glory of Islam like this Pope. Muslims must respond in a manner which forces the Pope to apologize.”. ...
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Vatican City: Muslims unsatisfied
The Herald - Everett,WA,USA
Despite a personal and public apology from the pope on Sunday, protests continued Monday in the Muslim world. Many Muslims said they remained dissatisfied with ...
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Pope row in past, PM tells Muslims
The Australian - Sydney,Australia
... has a point" in criticising Muslims for reacting to the Pope's comments with ... But Australia's Islamic leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, dismissed comments by his ...
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WHAT DID THE POPE THINK HE WAS DOING?
Yahoo! News - USA
Pope Benedict cannot apologize for defaming Islam, because he didn't. But he ... of the 14th-century Byzantine emperor (issued before the final Islamic conquest of
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The Pope's Remarks on Islam
NPR - USA
... Pope Benedict's speech was an academic address at a German university on ... Meanwhile, governments looking to boost their Islamic credentials are only too happy ...
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I Finally Figured It Out
RedState - Mclean,VA,USA
... And now I've seen Islamic radicals call for the death of Pope Benedict XVI because they were offended by one of his speeches - and I finally understand just ...
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‘Pope can use Turkey trip to calm anger’
Mumbai Mirror - India
... November could strengthen dialogue and friendship between religions and people and help defuse the anger in Islamic world triggered by the pope’s remarks on
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Should Vatican aides have warned the Pope?
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
... Since the exile of Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald to be the papal envoy to Egypt, there are few high-ranking Islamic experts close to the Pope. ...
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Call for ban on 'defamation of Islam'
Daily Telegraph - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
... UN General Assembly in which he took a veiled swipe at Pope Benedict XVI ... through dialogue and understanding, the growing divide between the Islamic and Western ...
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MISSING FROM THE POPE
Yahoo! News - USA
... There is no Islamic Council that can speak with authority in these matters. And surely what the pope was attempting to say, or should have been attempting to ...
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Moroccan king asks pope to respect Islam
IranMania News - Iran
... the Moroccan king said in a message to the pope, extracts of ... dialogue between religions and cultures," he said, underlining the Islamic religious principle of ...
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Indian politician expresses shock over Pope's Islam-insulting ...
Islamic Republic News Agency - Tehran,Iran
The chief minister of the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday criticized Pope Benedict XVI for making anti-Islamic ...

Pope's Islam comments cause concern; apology welcomed
Episcopal News Service - New York,NY,USA
... 16 statement issued by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, who spoke of the Pope's "respect and esteem" for followers of Islam and said that he ...
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Al-Qaeda to Pope: 'You're doomed' Irate Muslims fire up rhetoric ...
Ottawa Citizen (subscription) - Ontario, Canada
CAIRO - Al-Qaeda in Iraq yesterday warned Pope Benedict XVI that its war against Christianity and the West will go on until Islam takes over the world, and ...
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Pope's Islam remarks draw local criticism
UI The Daily Iowan (subscription) - Iowa City,IA,USA
... But Nadia Igram, the vice president of the UI Muslim Student Association, said the pope needs to do a better job representing Islam accurately. ...

Australian Cardinal adds to Islam-violence debate
Reuters.uk - UK
... Roman Catholics, said he was pleased there had been no violence in Australia in reaction to Pope Benedict's use of a mediaeval quotation on Islam and holy war.
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Fallout from Pope's Islam Speech
Here and Now - MA,USA
A group linked to Al Qaeda warns Pope Benedict XVI that he and the West ... words of a Byzantine emporer who characterized some of the teachings of Islam as "evil ...

Pakistani parliament deems Pope Islam remarks derogatory
Radio New Zealand - Wellington,New Zealand
The Pakistani parliament has passed a resolution describing the Pope's recent remarks about Islam as derogatory. The foreign ministry ...

Bush says pope sincere in apology on Islam
Reuters - USA
NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Bush said on Monday that Pope Benedict was sincere in his apology for comments on Islam that have sparked outrage in the Muslim ...
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Pope's Islam comments condemned
CNN International - USA
... apology. In Lebanon, the country's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric demanded the pope personally apologize for insulting Islam. "We ...

Pope's Islam comments sadden Archbishop
ABC Regional Online - Australia
The Pope has been forced to apologise to Muslims for causing offence in a university lecture he delivered last week, implicitly linking Islam to violence. ...

Bush believes Pope sincere in apology on Islam
Reuters - USA
... George W. Bush said on Monday that Pope Benedict was sincere in his apology for comments on Islam that have sparked outrage among Muslims, a US official said. ...
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Anger mounts in Muslim world over pope's Islam remarks (Roundup)
Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK
... keen to 'cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward other religions and cultures, obviously toward Islam too' and that what the pope took exception ...

Muslims react violently. Big surprise.
RedState - Mclean,VA,USA
... Reuters) - Al Qaeda militants in Iraq vowed war on "worshippers of the cross" and protesters burned a papal effigy on Monday over Pope Benedict's comments on ...
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Muslims seek better apology from Pope
Irish Examiner - Cork,Ireland
... The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as “the worshipper of the cross” saying “you and the West are doomed as you can see ...
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British Muslims Threaten Pope: Islam will Conquer Rome
Jawa Report - Arlen,TX,USA
... Joee reports that the Islamists were chanting "Pope Benedict you will pay, the Mujhidin are coming your way" and "Pope Benedict watch your back". ...

His call to reconcile faith and reason shared by Muslims too
TODAYonline - Singapore
BY NOW, most Muslims would consider themselves no strangers to controversy. Pope Benedict XVI's recent comment in Germany is the latest to a long list of ...
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German Muslims welcome Pope's clarification
Expatica - Netherlands
BERLIN - The Central Council of Muslims in Germany welcomed Sunday's clarification by Pope Benedict XVI as "an important step" towards calming the protests ...

Iraqi Muslims protest Pope remarks, burn flags
Jerusalem Post - Israel
Hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated in the southern city of Basra on Monday against Pope Benedict XVI's recent comments about Islam. ...
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Supreme Leader: Pope's Remarks Inciting Crisis between Muslims ...
Fars News Agency - Tehran,Iran
... words, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution called on the world Muslims to pay due attention to the policies underlying the Pope's statements, adding ...

Russia’s Putin Calls for Restraint in Pope-Muslims Conflict
MOSNEWS - Russia
... After violent protests from Muslims worldwide, demanding an apology, Pope Benedict said he was deeply sorry Muslims had been offended by his use of the ...
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Papal apology for Muslims
Calgary Sun - Canada
By AP. VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict said yesterday he is "deeply sorry" his remarks on Islam and violence offended Muslims. But ...
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Pope's remarks offend Chinese
China Daily - China
The head of China's Muslim community yesterday expressed deep anger over remarks made by Pope Benedict on September 12, when he cited the words of a 14th ...
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'Day of Rage': Anger Not Jihad
ABC News - USA
As Muslim Leaders Worldwide Call for a 'Day of Rage' Over the Pope's Comments, Do They Mean Violence? Muslims hold posters during ...
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Gaza’s Christians fear for safety
Indian Express - New Delhi,India
... Attacks on an ancient church in the Gaza Strip following the Pope Benedict XVI ... left them worried about their fragile status in this conservative Muslim society.
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Scotland Yard probes threats against the pope
Independent Online - Cape Town,South Africa
... a London protest at which calls were reportedly made for Pope Benedict XVI ... a number of complaints" about the reported comments by a leading Muslim extremist at ...
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Vatican experts say Pope 'unrepentant'
Independent - London,England,UK
As protests against the Pope continued to rumble around the Muslim world yesterday, Catholics began asking themselves if this highly intelligent man can really ...
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Strike in Valley over Pope's remarks
Hindu - Chennai,India
... of the Muslim community have been hurt by blasphemous and offensive comments about Islam. We register our strong protest and condemn Pope Benedict XVI's
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Pope’s ‘sorry’ fails to stem anger
Mumbai Mirror - India
... Malaysia, which chairs the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, has expressed hopes that the pope’s comments do “not reflect a new trend for ...
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RP haven for Christian-Muslim unity
ABS CBN News - Philippines
... For instance, the recent row arising from the speech of the Pope refers to a quotation from Islamic literature justifying violence. ...

Pell angers Muslims with defence of Pope's comments
ABC Online - Australia
The Archbishop of Sydney has backed the Pope's speech made in Germany last week ... "I'm not sure, I would welcome some clarification from our Islamic friends," he ...
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Pope's Islamic stumble baffles the experts
Eureka Street - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
... However, this kind of speculation hardly touches the mainstream of the Islamic tradition, which ... close to what Paul says in Romans 1, quoted by the Pope in his .

Iran accuses Pope of brewing Crusader War
Iran Focus - Iran
... accused the Pope of beginning a “Crusader War” against Islam, despite the pontiff’s public apology on Sunday over his recent remarks on the Islamic faith ...
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Pope's Turkey visit 'still on' despite Muslim anger
Irish Examiner - Cork,Ireland
Catholic bishops met in Istanbul today and decided the Pope’s visit to Turkey in November should go ahead despite anger in the Islamic world over his ...
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Pope setting up debate with Islam, says commentator
ABC Online - Australia
Those are just some of the reactions from extremists in the Islamic world after a speech by the Pope late last week which discussed the Muslim religion. ...
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Pope's lecture also shakes Catholic theologians
Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK
Regensburg, Germany - Last week's lecture by Pope Benedict XVI that provoked angry protests in the Islamic world has also triggered a cry of protest in the ...
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Bishops defend Pope from attack on speech
Tempo - Manila,Philippines
... Quitorio said the Pope cited the Surah 2,256 that says: “There is no ... It noted that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) continues to seek greater ...
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Pope's comments on Islam hit 'civilization clash' fault line
Christian Science Monitor - Boston,MA,USA
... Qaradawi also linked the pope's comments to President Bush's recent statement that America is at war with "Islamic Fascists," saying the pope is "giving ...
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Pope says remarks on Islam misunderstood
Houston Chronicle - United States
... Malaysia _ which chairs the world's largest Muslim bloc, the Organization of the Islamic Conference _ earlier had demanded the pope offer a full apology and ...
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What Game is Ahmadinejad Playing Today?
NewsBlaze - Folsom,CA,USA
... seats were vacant during Ahmadinejad's 30-minute address, in which he called for the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the ...
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President Ahmadinejad Delivers Remarks to the UNGeneral Assembly
Washington Post - United States
... In the interim, the nonaligned movement, the organization of the Islamic conference, and the African continent should each have a representative as a permanent

Insults and Anger: Muslims, Catholics, and Jews
About - News & Issues - New York,NY,USA
... The Organization of the Islamic Conference said in a statement that it "...regrets the quotations cited by the pope on the Life of the Honorable Prophet ...

Religious Leader's Serious Mistake
Право Выбора - Баку,Azerbaijan
... Organization of the Islamic Conference published a statement, regretting "concerning the Pope's statement and other falsifications, outraging Islam." The OIC ...
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Wave of Muslim Attacks on Palestinian Authority Churches
Arutz Sheva - Israel
... annual conference of the Islamic Movement, held in the Israeli Arab city of Umm El-Fahm on Friday, the head of the northern branch of the organization, Sheikh

Will Muslims Buy Jyllands-Posten?
Brussels Journal - Brussel,Belgium
Last week, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), called upon wealthy Muslims to influence the ...

OIC Ministers of Information Hammer Out Seven Resolutions
Al-Jazeerah.info - Dalton,GA,USA
The ministers of information of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference concluded their discussions yesterday at the Seventh Session of the ...

OIC Ministers of Information Hammer Out Seven Resolutions
Al-Jazeerah.info - Dalton,GA,USA
... We wanted this session to be different in having only few resolutions with specific timelines and mechanism for implementation,” said OIC Secretary-General ...

Mirwaiz can attend OIC now
Kashmir Live - India
... Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq received his passport today just in time for him to make it to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in the US. ...

OIC Responds to Pope
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) convened to discuss whether there was a change in the function of the Papacy. OIC Secretary ...
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OIC to name day to help devastated states
IranMania News - Iran
LONDON, September 11 (IranMania) - Officials of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states, in a meeting, decided to assign a day for ...

Khaleda tells IUT convocation: Untrue campaign against Islam needs ...
The New Nation - Bangladesh
... Director General of OIC Dr Razley bin Mohd Nordin read out the speech of OIC Secretary General and Chancellor of IUT Prof Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu at the ...

OIC Must Stand by Member States: Sudanese Minister
Arab News - Jeddah,Saudi Arabia
JEDDAH, 16 September 2006 — During discussions leading to the adoption of the final communiqué issued by the seventh Islamic Information Ministers Conference ...

OIC Charter of Children’s Rights Endorsed
Arab News - Jeddah,Saudi Arabia
JEDDAH, 19 September 2006 — The Council of Ministers yesterday endorsed the Kingdom’s admission to the OIC Charter of Children’s Rights in Islam and ...

Hurriyat Chief to take part in OIC meeting in New York
Islamic Republic News Agency - Tehran,Iran
The Mirwaiz has been invited to the OIC meeting, scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the 61st session of UN General Assembly on September 21 and 25, by ...

Malaysia Is Prepared To Assist OIC In Its Media Plans
Bernama - Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia
... the main resolutions adopted in the just-concluded Islamic Conference of Information Ministers (Icim) of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) here. ...
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OIC Information Ministers convened in Saudi Arabia
Kazinform - Astana,Kazakhstan
ASTANA. September 15, 2006. KAZINFORM - The 7th session of Information Ministers of Organization of the Islamic Conference was held ...

OIC deplores smear campaign
Peninsula On-line - Qatar
... The 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the world’s largest Muslim body, said quotations used by the Pope represented a “character ...

Muslims Seek Detailed Apology From Pope
Forbes - USA
... Malaysia - which chairs the world's largest Muslim bloc, the Organization of the Islamic Conference - had demanded the pope offer a full apology and retract ...
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Violent Muslim Reaction Justifies Pope's Stated Concerns, Cardinal ...
CNSNews.com - Alexandria,VA,USA
... In Geneva, the Organization of the Islamic Conference asked the UN's Human Rights Council to make time during its current session to address "religious ...

PRESS CORPS CONFRONTS BUSH ON TORTURE, IRAQ
Pacifica Radio - USA
... The 57-nation organization of the Islamic conference called it a "smear campaign," and public protests have broken out in many Muslim areas. ...

Muslim world desperately tries to improve its image with mass ...
Pravda - Moscow,Russia
Organization of Islamic Conference has always played a noticeable part in the international relations. Observers are no longer surprised ...

Unresolved Middle East issues and steps Islam wants to take
Jakarta Post - Jakarta,Indonesia
... secretary-general of the Muslim World League, Dr. Abdullah Atturki, the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeleddin ...

Kazakh Foreign Minister held number of meetings in New York
Kazinform - Astana,Kazakhstan
... dialogue and cooperation for peace, take part in ministerial meetings of member states of Asian Cooperation Dialog and Organization of the Islamic Conference. ...
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Security Council is unjust and manipulated by some States, Iranian ...
UN News Centre
... In the interim, he said, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and Africa should each have a permanent, veto-wielding ...
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Malaysia says Pope‘s apology acceptable
The Benton Crier - Benton,Iowa,USA
Malaysia, which chairs the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, the world‘s biggest Muslim bloc, had demanded that the pope offer a full apology ...

Islamic Conference Urges Tourism in Lebanon and Palestine
All Headline News - USA
Beirut, Lebanon (AHN) - The head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference said that Muslim countries should encourage tourism in Lebanon following the 34
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109 Million Tourists to Muslim Countries
The Media Line - New York,NY,USA
... and bird flu, WTO chief Francesco Frangialli told a meeting of tourism ministers from member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference which convened ...

Enough of the UN
New York Sun - New York,NY,USA
... This holds true particularly for the largest single bloc amongst them — the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference. ...
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OIC secretary general condemns Israeli aggression
Interfax-Religion - Moscow,Russia
Baku, September 11, Interfax - Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has condemned the Israeli aggression ...

Iran proposes plans to boost tourism ties among Islamic states
Islamic Republic News Agency - Tehran,Iran
... by head of Iran's delegation to the Fifth Meeting of Ministers and Officials of Tourism Industry from Organization of the Islamic Conference Member States ...

Muslim Americans reflect on Sept. 11, 2001, how they were treated ...
Iowa State Daily - Ames,IA,USA
... Full-page ads were run and statements from organizations such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which represented 56 Muslim countries issued the

Azerbaijan leader urges Muslim world to unite against terrorism
RIA Novosti - Moscow,Russia
... Aliyev, whose country is hosting the fifth session of tourism ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said that the Muslim world had ...

President Ilham Aliyev: Islamic solidarity is more important now
Azeri Press Agency - Azerbaijan
... “We are actively participating in the Organization of the Islamic Conference and offered organizing several events. The OIC will ...
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Azeri Ministry of Culture & Tourism and ISESCO signed Co-operation ...
TREND Information - Baku,Azerbaijan
The document was signed within the framework of the 5th Conference of the Tourism Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Trend reports.
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OIC to name day to help devastated states
IranMania News - Iran
LONDON, September 11 (IranMania) - Officials of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states, in a meeting, decided to assign a day for ...
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ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV
AzerTag - Azerbaijan
The events of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) held in Azerbaijan further strengthening relations between the country and the organization. ...
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Djibouti Supports Iran's Nuclear Rights
Fars News Agency - Tehran,Iran
... statement also stressed the need for further activities by regional formations and organizations, such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the ...

Islamic Regimes Defy United Nations
CNSNews.com - Alexandria,VA,USA
... level meeting on Darfur next Monday, and it has invited the Sudanese government, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to participate. ...
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UN Watch: Council a ‘disappointment’
Jewish Telegraphic Agency - New York,NY,USA
In its three months, Hillel Neuer, UN Watch’s executive director said, “the council, dominated by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, devoted 100 ...

FM: Nuclear Issue Never Solved through Illogical, Illegal Measures
Fars News Agency - Tehran,Iran
... Pointing to the two countries' membership in the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Mottaki ...

Misuari asks permission to attend summit
Manila Bulletin - Philippines
... his lawyers, Yaser B. Lumbos and Ombra Jainal, said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Prof. ...
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Symposium: The Death of Multiculturalism?
FrontPage magazine.com - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... Today’s immigrants are not in this type of situation, and certainly not the Muslims who have 56 countries within the Organization of the Islamic Conference. ...
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Istanbul hosts global conference on dialogue
Turkish Daily News (subscription) - Ankara,Turkey
... Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin

Musiad To Host Two International Organizations
Turkish Press - Plymouth,MI,USA
... Executives from the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Islamic Development Bank, Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), several ministers

PM Aziz: We Should Not Allow Acts Of Violence And Terrorism To ...
Turkish Press - Plymouth,MI,USA
... Istanbul's Dolmabahce Palace on the occasion of inauguration of the headquarters of the Youth Forum of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Prime ...
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50 Foreign Firms to Attend Istanbul Business Fair
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
... guests include the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), ministers ...

Turkey urges Iraq to take concrete measures against PKK
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
... minister also asked Iraq to end armed and political activities of the PKK and other groups backing it, and prevent terrorists from infiltrating Turkey from Iraq ...
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Gul Seeks Support for Turkey's UN Security Council Membership
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has continued his round of shuttle diplomacy to seek support from his counterparts on Turkey's temporary UN Security ...
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IMF Chairman Praises Turkey's Economic Performance
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
Rodrigo Rato, chairman of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), gave his assessments on developments in Turkey’s economy. Stating ...
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Turkish Culture Minister: Political Dialogue Development Important ...
TREND Information - Baku,Azerbaijan
... us, as the political dialogue development is important along with the strengthening of economic ties between the Turkic states”, stated Turkish Culture and ...
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Turkish PM urges Iraq to clamp down on Kurd rebels
Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
ANKARA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Turkey's prime minister has written to his Iraqi counterpart urging swift action against Turkish Kurdish rebels, his office said on ...
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Turkish Deputy Prime Minister: Laying down conditions to ...
Azeri Press Agency - Azerbaijan
... He declared that the Turkish people are ready to stand face-to-face with their past and offered discussions with Armenia if it can do the same,” Turkish ...

[NEWS IMPRESSION] Turkish FM Begins Contact with Greek Counterpart
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
... Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who traveled to New York early to attend meetings and has nearly 50 appointments on his agenda, started talks with his
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Turkish Muslims say Pope's apology falls short, warn him he's not ...
Victoria Times Colonist - Victoria,BC,Canada
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Muslims in Turkey, Iraq and the Palestinian territories demanded yesterday that Pope Benedict make a clear apology for his remarks on ...
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GERMANY: TURKISH MUSLIM LEADERS SLAM POPE'S 'FRONTAL ATTACK' ON ...
AKI - Rome,Italy
Berlin, 15 Sept. (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI has offended Muslims in Germany's Turkish community by his remarks during a recent trip to Germany that questioned

Pope has his back to the wall
Sabah - Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan said "Pope must apologize officially ... The Prime Minister of Germany, Angela Merker, on the other hand, defended the Pope by saying ...
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Business World Takes Another Step to Unite Turkey and Eurasia
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
... Troska stated the Turkish market had the second biggest potential after Germany and said they sold more vehicles in Turkey than in the UK, Spain, France and ...

Turkish Premier asks a better apology from Pope Benedict XVI
ABHaber - Brüksel,Belgium
... said last Tuesday in a speech during a visit to his native Germany. ... However the statement stopped short of appeasing Muslim anger, as Turkish Prime Minister ...
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Pope disses Islam, invokes Byzantine emperor who fought Turks
World War 4 Report - Brooklyn,NY,USA
... The BBC reports that "Turks see Benedict as a Turkophobe and commentators call his words just before the holy month of Ramadan 'ill-timed and ill-conceived ...

Why Turks Initiated the Muslim Anger at Pope Bendict's speech
Blogger News Network - USA
... and Turkey. The century old animosities between muslim invaders Turks) and the Ottoman empire is still on their minds. They are ...

The Turkish role in Lebanon, a work in progress
Daily Star - Lebanon - Beirut,Lebanon
On September 5, the Turkish Parliament voted 340 to 192, along strictly partisan lines, in favor of sending troops to Lebanon to join the UNIFIL contingent ...

Rajab Tayyib Erdogan: Turkish world will continue its steps on ...
Azeri Press Agency - Azerbaijan
The 10th Friendship, Brotherhood and Cooperation Congress of Turkish-speaking States and Communities started in Kemer, Antalya, APA’s Turkey bureau ...
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Turkish Soldiers to Go to Lebanon in Late October
Zaman Online - Istanbul,Turkey
Turkish Soldiers are expected to go to Lebanon to serve as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in late October. According ...
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No letter sent to the Pope by Turkish FM: spokesman
NTV MSNBC - Turkey
ANKARA - Turkey�s Foreign Ministry has denied media reports that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has sent a letter to letter to Pope Benedict XVI ...
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Turk official seeks papal apology for Islam remark
Malaysia Star - Malaysia
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's top religious official was quoted on Thursday as saying Pope Benedict should apologise for comments he made about Islam and should ...

Turk PM Says Pope Must Withdraw Islam Remarks
Mediafax - Bucuresti,Romania
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, joining a chorus of Muslim protest, said on Saturday Pope Benedict should withdraw "ugly" comments he made about Islam
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Solidarity of Turk States may help strengthen Each Other – Azeri ...
TREND Information - Baku,Azerbaijan
The solidarity of Turk countries may help strengthen each other. We want the Turk world to be united and the unity to be sustainable ...
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Turkish PM calls for establishing Turkish-speaking states ...
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Monday for the establishment of a Turkish- speaking states community, semi-official Anatolia news agency ...
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Turkey will be the most strategic asset of Europe
Sabah - Turkey
During a meeting which was administered by UN Development Program president Kemal Derviş, Chief negotiator Babacan has made a speech and said Turkey will be ...
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Saudi,Iran,Turkey worried about Iraq woes spill over
Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and fellow Iraq neighbours Iran and Turkey voiced concern on Monday that Iraqi sectarian and ethnic ...
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Tough Time For EU Relations
Turkish Press - Plymouth,MI,USA
... the direction of Turkey’s political strategy, except for a few Turkish researchers and ... Up to now the Jewish lobby has been able to close the asymmetry which ...

At UN, Bush to focus on democracy in Middle East
Journal of Turkish Weekly - Ankara,Turkey
... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Tuesday, was expected to lobby for Iran's right to develop nuclear ...

SPEECH BY PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV AT 10TH CONGRESS OF ...
AzerTag - Azerbaijan
... We are opposed by Armenians, an insidious and organized lobby, with huge financial ... recognize Turkey’s borders and reject offers of the Turkish government

Pope's unfortunate comments
Turkish Daily News (subscription) - Ankara,Turkey
... This he did despite the strong Armenian lobby and the certainty of the French ... the past 20 years as the leaders that made their mark on Turkish-French relations

VATICAN: POPE'S VISIT TO TURKEY TAKES SHAPE
AKI - Rome,Italy
... Benedict XVI's controversial remarks linking Islam and violence continued to reverberate around the Muslim world, his planned three-day visit to Turkey at the ...

Turkish Foreign Minister in the US for talks
NTV MSNBC - Turkey
NEW YORK - Turkey�s Foreign Minister is in the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to lobby for one of the vacant non ...
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Google Alert for: Caricatures Mohammad/Caricatures Muhammad/Cartoon Mohammad/Cartoons Mohammad/ Cartoon Muhammad...

The pope & the Byzantine emperor
Jerusalem Post - Israel
... Muhammad), 2002 (when Jerry Falwell called Muhammad a terrorist), 2005 (the fraudulent Koran-flushing episode), and February 2006 (the Danish cartoon incident
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Muslim Violence and the Pope's Remarks
ChronWatch - Alamo,CA,USA
... A Dane drew a cartoon about Mohammed, and deadlyriots and Embassy burnings by Muslims were the ... “He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Muhammad brought that ...

Ratings at Root of NBCs AntiChristian Madonna Broadcast Says ...
WDC Media News - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... not "preach to kids" or show Bible verses at the conclusion of each cartoon. ... that it was not necessary to show those editorial depictions of Muhammad in order

Tightrope of tolerance begins to fray
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
... of violent Muslim protesters as it did during the Danish cartoon controversy? ... by a quote from a 14th-century Byzantine emperor saying Muhammad brought "things ...

Getting reasonable about faith
Chicago Tribune - United States
... A year ago, Danish newspaper cartoon depictions of Muhammad sparked international riots. Now the pope's quote, ripped from its context ...

An Apologist for Muslim Rage
Human Events - Washington,DC,USA
... s recent remarks on Islam threaten to eclipse last winter’s Cartoon Rage in ... author of the popular books Islam: A Short History and Muhammad: A Biography of

The pope missed how central religion is to Muslims
Daily Star - Lebanon - Beirut,Lebanon
... referring to Manuel: "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Mohammad brought that was ... If this issue passes away soon, as the Danish cartoons controversy did, we ...

Khatami tones down rhetoric at Harvard
Jewish Advocate (subscription) - Boston,MA,USA
... about an Iranian exhibition that features Holocaust-denial cartoons, Khatami acknowledged ... he is a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad – smiled often

Pope’s Speech Again Demonstrated The Fragility of Islam
Iran Press Service - Paris,France
... 1391, the pope quoted the emperor saying, “Show me just what Mohammad brought that was ... of those that erupted after a Danish newspaper printed cartoons of the ...
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Briefly: 4 Muslim protesters wounded by police
International Herald Tribune - France
... from entering the village when the shooting began, said Mohammad Mustafa, who ... an online media editor facing criminal prosecution for publishing cartoons of the ...

Review of the Arab press
United Press International - USA
... It insisted the pope's comments, and before it the cartoons insulting Prophet Mohammad, are directly linked to comments by President George Bush, British Prime

Pope Backlash Deals Blow to Interfaith Ties
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
... In Lebanon, where bloody demonstrations erupted early this year over a Danish newspaper's caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, a Christian-Muslim dialogue
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Pope and Islam: Some Muslims Call For Dialogue
The Moderate Voice - USA
... XVI’s entire Regensburg speech instead of focusing on a single sentence about Muhammad taken out ... The paper goes on to say that the 'Danish cartoon row should ...

Wanted: Modern, Not Medieval, Interfaith Dialogue
Beliefnet.com - New York,NY,USA
... Muhammad remains anathema, an emotional reaction unchecked by authority is virtually assured. Perhaps the world did not know this before the Danish cartoon ...
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Pope’s speech could use a little context
ChronicleHerald.ca - Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada
... had said, among other things, that the Islamic prophet Muhammad’s teachings ... of many non-Muslims that this "crisis" – like the cartoon controversy – was ...
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The Church – Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?
Brussels Journal - Brussel,Belgium
... depicting Muhammad. This was, down to the last comma, exactly the way Muslims would treat the persecuted non-Muslims in their own countries. The cartoon Jihad ...

The pope's apology
Chicago Tribune - United States
... will be heard, as they were when cartoon riots started. Many of those leaders called the violence inconsistent with the teachings of Muhammad and counter to ...
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More calls for dialogue in a Muslim world angered by Pope
AsiaNews.it - Italy
... entire Regensburg speech instead of focusing on a single sentence about Muhammad taken out ... The paper goes on to say that the “Danish cartoon row should have ...
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Disturbing cartoon and troubling questions
Spero News - USA
... The cartoon comes at a time when many in Rome and elsewhere in the ... in conflict with the Turkish Muslims, who expressed a negative judgment on Muhammad and jihad ...
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New group blog: Burning Issues
Jerusalem Post - Israel
... For quoting from a critique of Mohammad in the course of a lengthy ... Which party, as with last year's "cartoon wars," is highlighting the despicable abuse of ...

Both sides feel threats in Pope-Islam row
Times of Malta - Valletta,Malta
... crisis - like recent controversies over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad or the ... This controversy has started out just like the cartoon crisis," said ...

Valley rejects Pope’s apology, shuts
Financial Express - Bombay,India
... A similar thing happened during the Denmark cartoon controversy. ... University quoted a 12th century emperor and said that what new Prophet Mohammad has given to ...

German Chancellor defends Pope amid Muslim fury
Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai,India
... century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything Mohammad brought was ... the risk that the protests that there were over the cartoon row could ...

Is the Pope a Catholic?
Spiked - London,UK
... Just as the reaction to the Danish cartoons featuring Mohammad began in the West and was broadcast to the Muslim world, so it seems a safe bet that the Pope ...
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Both sides feel threats in Pope-Islam row
Times of Malta - Valletta,Malta
... The crisis - like recent controversies over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad or the death sentence for an Afghan convert to Christianity - reveals a ...

Al Qaeda vows “jihad” over Pope’s speech
Express Outlook - Port-Louis,Mauritius
... This was in contrast to Chinese reticence over last year’s publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish paper that sparked violent Muslim ...
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Vatican clarifies Pope's speech to calm down uproar
di-ve.com - Malta
... Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Mohammad brought was ... following the publication in European newspapers of cartoons lampooning Prophet ...

Protests point to problems on both sides
The Brunei Times - Bandar,Brunei,Brunei Darussalam
... When there are foreign troops in Afghanistan, the Muhammad caricatures, the support of Western states for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, violence
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Pope's 'apology' fails to quell Muslim anger
Kuwait Times - Kuwait
... supreme leader Ali Khamenei compared the pope's remarks to caricatures published in a Danish newspaper last year deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad.
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OIC Ambassadors Group To Dispel Misconceptions About Islam In ...
Bernama - Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia
... anger and dissatisfaction among the Muslims globally such as the recent speech by Pope Benedict XVI and before that the caricatures of Prophet Muhammad. ...

Why no Muslim anger over Darfur violence?
Cape Argus (subscription) - Cape Town,South Africa
THE HEADLINES say "Muslim fury at caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad"; "Muslim fury at Pope's 'insult' ". When are we going to ...

Pope’s comments draw criticism from campus students
Diamondback Online - College Park,MD,USA
... Unlike the controversy early this year surrounding the decision of many international newspapers to print cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammad in a

Al Qaeda Threatens Pope
FOX News - USA
... the paper apologized for making fun of the Muslim prophet Mohammad earlier this year. Online editors removed two of the offending cartoons — including one ...

Both sides feel threats in pope-Islam row
Turkish Daily News (subscription) - Ankara,Turkey
... The crisis -- like recent controversies over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad or the death sentence for an Afghan convert to Christianity -- reveals ...

Mixed Arab reaction to papal apology
Bangkok Post - Thailand
... for mobilising Muslims against Denmark over a series of cartoons depicting the ... On Sunday, leader-at-large of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammad Mahdi Akef, said ...
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Pope launches battle for Europe
Daily Pioneer - New Delhi,India
... As in the case of the offensive Danish cartoons, the speech has ... most Islamic nations, and repeated provocations against Prophet Mohammad, Europe's radicalised ...

Benedict tacitly apologized, let's move on
Daily Star - Lebanon - Beirut,Lebanon
... we saw this past spring, when Muslims throughout the world angrily demonstrated against cartoons published in a Danish newspaper defaming the Prophet Mohammad. ...
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When Saying Sorry Isn't Enough
The Blanket - Belfast,Ireland
... western media and political classes to both the Danish cartoons and, now ... Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus' view that "… everything Mohammad brought was ...

The Pope discovers the trouble with faith
The Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK
... struggle to find any justification for such behaviour in the teachings of Muhammad. ... reminded me of nothing so much as the anti-Semitic caricatures published in ...
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Al-Qaida in Iraq warns pope that Islam will prevail as protesters ...
International Herald Tribune - France
... Danish paper. The caricatures, which Muslims saw as insulting Muhammad, sparked large, violent protests across the Islamic world. ...
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In Defense of Pope Benedict
Antiwar.com - Redwood City,CA,USA
... The current controversy is being compared to the tasteless caricatures of Muhammad that appeared in many European newspapers, but the reality is quite different ...

Pope remarks promote inter-religious discord: Leader
MehrNews.com - Tehran,Iran
... a wave of anger in the Islamic world, came after caricatures published in a Danish newspaper last year deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad (S) set off ...

Violence Defies Benedict's Message
CBS News - New York,New York,USA
... Is it nonetheless true, as Muhammad Umar, chairman of the Ramadhan Foundation in ... that "last year and in the same month the Danish cartoon assaulted Islam." The ...
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Pope Benedict did not insult Islam
renewamerica.us - Washington,D.C.,USA
... The words were, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will ... Take up arms!' or worse, as in the 'cartoon' saga a few months ago, they ...
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Brunei imams accept Pope's apology
The Brunei Times - Bandar,Brunei,Brunei Darussalam
... repeat his mistake, especially insensitive comments about the Prophet Muhammad and Islam ... people against the Danish newspaper after they printed a cartoon of our ...

`All of this is a lie' but `do they know it?'
Chicago Tribune - United States
... The hallways at the Holocaust International Cartoon Contest, an exhibit of anger, art ... as a response to the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by

Muslim world demands personal apologies from the Pope
Pravda - Moscow,Russia
... Prophet Muhammad with those remarks. Spiritual leaders of Muslims in Iraq and Lebanon drew a parallel between the pope's speech and the notorious cartoon ...
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House Editorial: And we quote, ‘enough is enough’
JMU The Breeze - VA,USA
... He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Muhammad brought that ... context is wrong, all liberal education is wrong — a sentiment the Danish cartoon fiasco further ...
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Anti-Muslim Harassment Complaints Jump 30 Percent
Washington Post - United States
... free copies of the Koran and copies of a PBS documentary about the prophet Muhammad earlier this year after deadly rioting about the Danish cartoon controversy ...

Rushdie, Hirsi Ali, the Pope -- Who's Next?
Spiegel Online - Berlin,Germany
... the Danish editor who a year ago published a series of Muhammad caricatures in his ... that erupted in the Muslim world in the wake of the cartoon controversy have ...

Faith in each other
Guardian Unlimited - UK
... in protests after the publication of Danish caricatures of Muhammad, which after ... For one thing, any Islamist caricature linking the Vatican with George Bush's

Pope's words likely to bring back "offending cartoon" row
EiTB - Euskadi,Spain
... In the speech, the Pope referred to criticism of the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus. The ...
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World leaders at UN to tackle host of global problems

As the 61st annual session of the United Nations General Assembly opened Tuesday, world leaders gathered in New York are set to tackle a host of complex issues, including violence in Darfur, Iran's nuclear ambitions, and global poverty and health. While each of the UN's 192 member states will be allowed to make a 15-minute speech, diplomats say much of the key work will take place in the many meetings along the sides of the summit. Read the official site.   ABC News /Associated Press (9/19)

Wirth, Coleman address UN's challenges: United Nations Foundation President Timothy E. Wirth and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., analyzed on PBS the UN's chances for meeting its various challenges to be discussed at the just-opened annual summit. While the UN's weakness is that it can do very little without the approval of the major powers, "I think the effectiveness and the indispensability of the [UN] is very, very clear," Wirth said.   PBS (9/18)

UN HRC urged to probe Pope's Islam remarks
The United Nations' Human Rights Council should look into Pope Benedict's recent remarks on Islam to examine if they were religiously intolerant, Islamic countries requested Monday. The pope has adequately apologized for offending Muslims with his remarks, but it still makes sense for the human rights body to probe how the comments fit into the larger question of religious tolerance, Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Masood Khan, said.   Bloomberg /ClipSyndicate (9/18),   International Herald Tribune /Associated Press (9/18)

Editorial: America's moral authority at stake
The U.S. Congress should not give in to President George W. Bush's insistence that in order to fight the war on terror the lawmakers should legalize secret prisons and "alternative" interrogation methods that could pave the way for torture, the Financial Times writes in this editorial. Giving Bush these short-sighted tools would "undermine America's moral authority in the longer term -- and could help inspire a whole new generation of terrorists," the paper argues.   Financial Times (London) (free content) (9/18)

Annan: Iraq in "grave danger" of civil war
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that Iraq is in "grave danger" of civil war, urging the country's government to foster a greater sense of unity. Annan also called on the international community for support, claiming failure would be imminent without sufficient backing of Iraqi interests.  Bloomberg /ClipSyndicate (9/19),   USA TODAY /Associated Press (9/18)

Annan sees troubled world but also progress and hope

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned of global instability, economic disorder and a disregard for human rights in his final annual address to world leaders, but he also noted progress and hope in such areas as development. Opening the annual General Assembly debate on Tuesday, Annan called for unity among nations, as the 192 UN member states prepared to face an ambitious agenda. "I remain convinced that the only answer to this divided world must be a truly United Nations," Annan said.   USA TODAY/Associated Press (9/19)

Bush reaches out to Muslims in UN speech
U.S. President George W. Bush reached out to Muslims in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, saying he respects Islam and is seeking peace with Iran. While focusing mostly on the Mideast in his speech, Bush also addressed the continuing violence in Sudan's Darfur region, saying, "my nation has called these atrocities what they are: genocide." Read the transcript of Bush's speech. APTN/ClipSyndicate (9/20),   Los Angeles Times (free registration) (9/20)

Ahmadinejad on the offensive: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a swing at the UN's Security Council in his speech to the General Assembly Tuesday, criticizing it for threatening Iran with sanctions over its nuclear program. His speech came as it is growing clearer that the commercial trade between Iran and Europe, China and Russia may be a big hurdle to the imposition of any sanctions, The Wall Street Journal reports.   Financial Times (London) (free content) (9/20),   The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (9/20)

Alianza de Civilizaciones es el nombre por el que se conoce la propuesta realizada por el Presidente del Gobierno español José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero en la 59ª Asamblea General de la ONU, el 21 de septiembre de 2004. Dicha propuesta defiende una alianza entre Occidente y el mundo árabe y musulmán con el fin de combatir el terrorismo internacional por otro camino que no sea el militar. Esta idea recupera la propuesta que seis años antes hacía también ante la ONU el presidente de la república islámica de Irán, Muhammad Jatami, de desarrollar un "Diálogo entre civilizaciones", por lo cual se consideró 2001 como el año oficial y se estableció una agenda de trabajo.

El programa propuesto tiene como puntos fundamentales la cooperación antiterrorista, la corrección de desigualdades económicas y el diálogo cultural. Antes de ser asumido por la ONU, la propuesta consiguió el patrocinio del Primer Ministro de Turquía, Recep Tayip Erdogan, así como el respaldo de una veintena de países de Europa, Latinoamérica, Asia y África, además de la Liga Árabe. En febrero de 2006, por medio de una carta de la Secretaria de Estado Condoleezza Rice, el Gobierno de Estados Unidos declaraba también su disposición a apoyar la iniciativa.

Tras la adopción de la iniciativa, el Secretario General de Naciones Unidas Kofi Annan estableció un grupo de dieciocho personalidades de alto nivel (entre las que se incluyen el presidente iraní Muhammad Jatami, el Premio Nobel de la Paz de 1984 Desmond Tutu y el director de la Unesco Federico Mayor Zaragoza) para presentar un plan de acción a finales del año 2005.

El 20 de octubre de 2005, las Naciones Unidas proclamaron otra resolución [1] en la que llamaban a la comunidad internacional a hacer un mayor esfuerzo para promocionar la cultura de la paz y el diálogo entre civilizaciones.

En abril de 2006, la Alianza de Civilizaciones lanzó un sitio web en inglés y árabe con el fin de coordinar los esfuerzos llevados a cabo en este sentido.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alianza_de_civilizaciones

http://www.councilonglobalterrorism.org/pdf/A06_265_cgt_report_final.pdf
ANÁLISIS DEL REAL INSTITUTO 

 La ONU en la lucha contra el terrorismo: cinco años después del 11-S (ARI)

Javier Rupérez  (20/7/2006) http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/analisis/1016.asp

Tema: Este ARI describe y comenta las iniciativas contra el terrorismo desarrolladas en las Naciones Unidas, más concretamente en su Consejo de Seguridad, desde los atentados del 11 de septiembre, explicando cuáles son los problemas que están dificultando ulteriores avances en dicha materia.

Resumen: Durante los cinco años transcurridos desde el 11 de septiembre de 2001, el Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas –aunque en muchas ocasiones al dictado de los acontecimientos– ha sido coherente en la condena al terrorismo, contundente en la adopción de medidas y decidido en la exploración del fenómeno y en la búsqueda de nuevas fronteras para contrarrestarlo. Todo ello queda de manifiesto en las diferentes Resoluciones aprobadas desde entonces. Por su parte, el secretario general de las Naciones Unidas ha desarrollado una acción con progresiva intensidad. Sin embargo, profundas divergencias de criterio acerca del terrorismo explican la incapacidad de los Estados miembros de las Naciones Unidas para ponerse de acuerdo sobre una Convención general contra esa amenaza a la paz y seguridad internacionales. El peligro de una tentación burocratizadora y repetitiva, estimulada por todos aquellos que quisieran vaciar de contenido el sistema establecido, acecha a las tareas antiterroristas de las Naciones Unidas, a lo que debe añadirse la tensión que existe entre los cinco miembros permanentes del Consejo de Seguridad y la Asamblea General.

Análisis: Los atentados terroristas del 11 de septiembre de 2001 en Nueva York y Washington tuvieron como principal efecto en la opinión pública mundial el de generar una reacción de rechazo y condena tan profunda y generalizada como para posibilitar una sensibilidad diferente ante el fenómeno de la violencia indiscriminada utilizada por grupos no estatales para la consecución de determinados fines políticos. La fecha, desde ese punto de vista, constituye una divisoria clave en la percepción internacional del terrorismo y consiguientemente en las medidas que cupiera adoptar para luchar en contra suya y, eventualmente, acabar con él. Esa afirmación hay que comprenderla en el contexto de una cierta relatividad: antes de septiembre de 2001 existía el terrorismo en sus diversas manifestaciones, y los Estados no se habían mostrado precisamente inermes a la hora de hacerle frente; y no todo ha sido coser y cantar en la lucha antiterrorista después de ese momento. Tampoco cabe olvidar que el terrorismo que se reclama islamista era suficientemente conocido antes de la destrucción de las Torres Gemelas. Pero la orgía de barbarie que Bin Laden y sus secuaces llevan a las ciudades americanas rebasa los límites de lo hasta entonces sufrido e impone un cambio urgente de actitud. De las manifestaciones aisladas de terrorismo –lo que muchos consideraban simples “molestias tácticas”, reducidas en el espacio y en la reivindicación, pocas veces aplaudidas pero muchas comprendidas, o al menos toleradas, o quizá explicadas como resultados de malformaciones previas nunca adecuadamente solucionadas– se transita casi sin solución de continuidad a un intento global de destrucción donde el objetivo no es tal o cual sociedad nacional sino mas bien el conjunto del orden internacional existente –es una “amenaza estratégica”–. Tras el 11 de septiembre de 2001 un escalofrío recorre la espina dorsal de la sociedad internacional. Incluso la de aquellos de sus miembros que por razones de simpatía o afinidades varias pudieran haber tenido la tentación de explicar lo ocurrido en términos de la perspectiva derivada de una cierta visión del mundo. No había justificación para la matanza, ni comprensión para los que la ordenaron y la llevaron a cabo, ni atenuantes para los criminales y sus cómplices. Nadie, ni los más poderosos, estaban a salvo de las embestidas. En una fracción breve de tiempo y de profunda y angustiosa intensidad emocional la comunidad internacional cree comprender que siendo el riesgo diferente también debe serlo la respuesta. Al tiempo que el terrorismo se impone con desgarro en la agenda de las cuestiones internacionales todos comprenden que la solución, si existe, debe buscarse en una voluntad reforzada de cooperación internacional.

La ONU recoge de manera casi inmediata la demanda y el reto. El Consejo de Seguridad, que había condenado sin paliativos los atentados del 11 de septiembre un día después, en la Resolución 1368 (2001), adopta pocas semanas después, el 28de septiembre, la Resolución 1373 (2001), pieza central de toda la concepción y de toda la actuación antiterrorista de la ONU después de la fatídica fecha. Es una Resolución adoptada bajo el Capítulo VII de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas, que por tanto contiene obligaciones jurídicamente exigibles por la Organización internacional bajo la eventual amenaza de sanciones, y en su momento aprobada por la unanimidad de todos los miembros del Consejo. La Resolución impone obligaciones genéricas a los Estados miembros –las de criminalizar la financiación del terrorismo y el mismo terrorismo– y recomienda la adopción de una amplia serie de conductas en el ámbito de la cooperación internacional contra el fenómeno, abarcando desde la colaboración entre servicios policiales y de inteligencia hasta a la que tiene lugar entre los aparatos judiciales, al tiempo que pide la firma y ratificación de los instrumentos internacionales contra el terrorismo aprobados por la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas (1).  Estos convenios, doce en el momento de aprobarse la Resolución 1373, trece en el momento actual, son en sí mismos un reflejo de la actividad desarrollada en el marco de las Naciones Unidas contra el terrorismo desde los años sesenta: todos los actos de terrorismo imaginables son recogidos en los textos de los convenios, catálogo ilustrativo de las acciones que los Estados deben emprender para impedir que tales actos se produzcan. Naturalmente, a esa enumeración deben añadirse las Resoluciones del Consejo de Seguridad sobre terrorismo previas al 11 de septiembre. En 1999, el 15 de octubre, la Resolución 1267 había establecido un sistema de prohibiciones y sanciones para personas o instituciones relacionadas con al-Qaeda y los talibán, la lista de los cuales figura a disposición del Comité –órgano subsidiario del Consejo– creado para vigilar y asegurar la puesta en practica de los términos de la Resolución. Con anterioridad, el Consejo había impuesto sanciones contra Libia por su participación en el atentado terrorista contra un avión de la compañía americana Pan Am que cayó en Lockerbie, Escocia, en diciembre de 1988 y también por el atentado contra el vuelo de la compañía aérea francesa UTA, derribado en Níger en septiembre de 1989. El Consejo también había impuesto sanciones contra Sudán por haber dado cobijo a los responsables del atentado terrorista dirigido contra el presidente egipcio Mubarak en junio de 1995 en Addis Abeba, con ocasión de la cumbre de la Unidad Africana que tenía lugar en la capital etíope. En ambos casos, y aunque los resultados de las acciones del Consejo tardaron un cierto tiempo en producir frutos, sobre todo en el caso de Libia, la iniciativa alcanzó casi todos los efectos deseados: Sudán entregó los sospechosos del atentado a Egipto y Libia hizo lo propio con los presuntos autores de los dos atentados contra aeronaves, puestos a disposición de la justicia francesa o juzgados en Holanda de acuerdo con la legislación escocesa, amén de aceptar el pago de indemnizaciones a las víctimas. En el recuento deben ser también tenidas en cuenta las numerosas Resoluciones sobre el terrorismo aprobadas por la Asamblea General desde fecha temprana en la vida de la Organización. Cubren tales Resoluciones diferentes aspectos del terrorismo, incluyendo el tema del respeto a los derechos humanos, y son siempre útiles para conocer el estado de ánimo de la comunidad internacional y subrayar su utilidad en el caso de que hayan sido aprobadas con la unanimidad de los Estados miembros. Cuando la comunidad internacional se siente convulsionada por los ataques terroristas del 11 de septiembre de 2001, lo menos que cabe registrar es que las Naciones Unidas, sus Estados miembros, habían manifestado ya durante muchos años su condena y firme repulsa en contra del terrorismo. Es evidente que lo ocurrido en esa fecha fuerza a un replanteamiento del fenómeno del terrorismo en la vida internacional. La primera respuesta en ese cambiante panorama es la Resolución 1373.

Como queda apuntado, la Resolución introduce un factor novedoso en el comportamiento del Consejo de Seguridad, cual es el de imponer obligaciones generales a los Estados miembros. En la sistemática habitual de las Naciones Unidas, corresponde a la Asamblea General “legislar”, mientras que es atribución del Consejo tomar decisiones sobre temas que afecten a la paz y a la seguridad internacionales, normalmente traducidas en acciones contra sus violadores, nominativamente identificados. La Resolución 1373 es, con carácter obligatorio, una norma jurídica internacional dictada por el Consejo de Seguridad. No es de extrañar que, desde su aprobación, haya recibido críticas al ser interpretada como una “invasión” por parte del Consejo de las atribuciones en principio confiadas a la Asamblea General, si además se tiene en cuenta que su texto relaciona el terrorismo inequívocamente con los actos contrarios a la paz y a la seguridad internacionales. Un texto tan robusto y contundente como el que contiene la 1373 se explica en la atmósfera de conmoción creada por los atentados del 11 de septiembre, añaden todos aquellos que resienten su incursión en las responsabilidades de la Asamblea General, pero ningún miembro de la comunidad internacional, con alguna pequeña y no demasiado significativa excepción, ha osado públicamente oponerse al cumplimiento de sus disposiciones. Más bien al contrario, la Resolución ha creado una dinámica decididamente favorable a la observancia de sus normas y claramente inspiradora de la convicción generalizada en contra del terrorismo y de sus manifestaciones. Todo ello ha sido fomentado en la misma Resolución por la creación de otro órgano subsidiario del Consejo, el Comité Contra el Terrorismo, que tiene como finalidad fundamental la de comprobar el cumplimiento de los términos de la Resolución a través de una relación continua y directa con todos los Estados miembros que incluye eventualmente la prestación de la ayuda técnica en beneficio de aquellos países que puedan encontrar dificultades materiales en la aplicación de los preceptos aprobados por el Consejo. En los cinco años transcurridos desde 2001, el Comité Contra el Terrorismo ha recibido más de seiscientos informes de los Estados Miembros en respuesta a las cartas remitidas por el CTC sobre el estado del cumplimiento de la Resolución. Y el aumento de las ratificaciones de los Convenios internacionales sobre el terrorismo ha sido notable: después de la aprobación de la Resolución 1373, las doce existentes antes del 11 de septiembre recibieron entre un tercio y dos tercios de las ratificaciones después del año 2001, oscilando el número total de las mismas entre las ciento ochenta de las convenciones para la protección de las navegación aérea y las ciento veinte de las relativas ala protección del material nuclear o la fabricación de explosivos plásticos. La última de las Convenciones, relativa a los actos de terrorismo realizados con armas o componentes nucleares, fue adoptada por la Asamblea General el 13 de abril de 2005, recibió ochenta y dos firmas en el momento inicial, cuenta en el momento actual con ciento seis y con tres países que ya la han ratificado. La nueva y elogiable disposición para firmar y ratificar las convenciones antiterroristas tiene indudablemente mucho que ver con el 11 de septiembre y con la Resolución 1373.

El impulso adquirido por el Consejo de Seguridad en el terreno de las medidas contra el terrorismo ha tenido varias manifestaciones más en el curso de estos últimos cinco años. La primera se produce poco tiempo después de la adopción de la Resolución 1373 y constituye una clara reafirmación de la misma: es la Resolución 1377, del 12 de noviembre de 2001, que recoge una declaración “sobre el esfuerzo global para combatir el terrorismo”. Del mismo tenor, aunque más extensa, y también reafirmando la validez de la 1373, es la declaración “sobre la cuestión de la lucha contra el terrorismo” aneja a la Resolución 1456 aprobada, como la anterior, en sesión ministerial del Consejo, el 20 de enero de 2003.

El 26 de marzo de 2004 el Consejo de Seguridad adopta la Resolución 1535, que endosa el llamado plan de revitalización de Comité Contra el Terrorismo y crea la Dirección Ejecutiva del Comité, con la función de ayudar al mismo en el desempeño de sus tareas. La gestión de este último texto había sido larga y prolija. El impulso final habría de venir de otra fecha trágica: el 11 de marzo de 2004 habían tenido lugar en Madrid los atentados terroristas contra los trenes de cercanías que se dirigían a la estación de Atocha. La Dirección Ejecutiva queda configurada como una “misión política especial” incluida en y regida por las normas de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas y al servicio del Comité y sus miembros.

Otro terrible ataque terrorista, el perpetrado contra una escuela por independentistas chechenos en Beslan, en la Federación Rusa, en septiembre de 2004, inspira la Resolución 1566, adoptada por el Consejo el 8 de octubre de 2004 y que, sobre las anteriores, incluye algunas novedades significativas: ofrece una definición del terrorismo; insta al Comité Contra el Terrorismo a iniciar visitas a los Estados miembros, como medio adicional para comprobar el grado de cumplimiento de la Resolución 1373; y crea un grupo de trabajo con la finalidad de ampliar la lista de personas y organizaciones terroristas a otras que no estén relacionadas exclusivamente con al-Qaeda y los talibán y de considerar “la posibilidad de establecer un fondo internacional para indemnizar a las victimas del terrorismo y a sus familias”. Meses antes, el 28 de abril de 2004, el Consejo había aprobado la Resolución 1540 dirigida a impedir que los Estados suministren “cualquier tipo de apoyo a los agentes no estatales que traten de desarrollar, adquirir, fabricar, poseer, transportar, transferir o emplear armas nucleares, químicas o biológicas y sus sistemas vectores”.La Resolución contempla asimismo una serie de medidas para impedir la proliferación de las armas de destrucción masiva, colocando su ámbito más allá del estricto de la lucha contra el terrorismo. Ello motivó que su gestación fuera lenta y laboriosa y no por ello menos criticado el texto, al entender algunos que el Consejo volvía a interferir en terrenos propios de la Asamblea General. La 1540, como antes la 1267 o la 1373, crea un Comité, órgano subsidiario del Consejo, encargado de vigilar el cumplimiento de los términos de la Resolución. Esta es la única de la serie quinquenal examinada que no ha sido motivada o inspirada por ataques terroristas y que quizá por ello demuestra con mas fuerza la firme voluntad política que ha mostrado el Consejo a la hora de adoptar medidas, en este caso preventivas, en contra del terrorismo.

La enumeración se completa con la Resolución 1624, adoptada por el Consejo el 14 de septiembre de 2005 en una de las raras sesiones que el órgano ha celebrado en el nivel de jefes de Estado y de Gobierno –tres en toda su historia– y que tiene de nuevo como trágica inspiración varios atentados terroristas: los llevados a cabo en el sistema publico de transportes de Londres el 7 de julio de ese año. La Resolución cubre dos terrenos distintos y novedosos. Por una parte, contempla y predica acciones estatales contra “la incitación a la comisión de un acto o actos de terrorismo”, que debe ser prohibida por ley. Por otra, realiza un llamamiento a todos los Estados para “promover el dialogo y mejorar el entendimiento entre las civilizaciones”. La gestión de su cumplimiento queda confiada al Comité Contra el Terrorismo.

Como bien se observa, durante los cinco años transcurridos desde el 11 de septiembre de 2001, el Consejo de Seguridad, cierto que en muchas ocasiones al dictado de los acontecimientos, ha sido coherente en la condena del terrorismo, contundente en la adopción de la correspondientes medidas y decidido en la exploración del fenómeno y en la búsqueda de nuevas fronteras para contrarrestarlo. Todas las Resoluciones mencionadas han sido aprobadas con el voto unánime de los miembros de Consejo, y hay que tener en cuenta el carácter cambiante de su composición a través de la presencia de los miembros no permanentes para saber lo que la unanimidad significa. Las Resoluciones 1373, 1540 y 1566, además de la 1267, están situadas bajo la autoridad del Capitulo VII de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas –“Acción en caso de amenazas a la paz, quebrantamiento de la paz o actos de agresión”–. Sólo la 1624 rompe la norma al situarse bajo el Capitulo VI –“Arreglo pacífico de controversias”– en un evidente compromiso entre aquellos que querían una dura respuesta a la “incitación del terrorismo” y los que temen la colisión de la figura con la libertad de expresión. Pero seria erróneo concluir con ello que la 1624 “vale” menos que las anteriores o que su mandato es menos obligatorio, aunque las consecuencias de los respectivos y eventuales incumplimientos sean diferentes: el Capitulo VI no incluye sanciones.

Paralelamente a la acción del Consejo, el secretario general ha venido desarrollando la suya con progresiva intensidad. En octubre de 2001 se creó, en el Secretariado, un “Grupo Asesor sobre las Naciones Unidas y el Terrorismo” cuyas primeras y únicas conclusiones –el Grupo daría paso más tarde al “Equipo Especial” para la lucha contra el terrorismo– reflejan una aproximación todavía tentativa, aunque prefiguren algunas de las propuestas posteriores del secretario general, fueron presentadas a la Asamblea General y al Consejo de Seguridad el 6 de agosto de 2002. Es el mismo secretario general el que, en septiembre de 2003 y ante la Asamblea General, convoca un Grupo de Alto Nivel sobre “las amenazas, los desafíos y el cambio” para que evaluara los riesgos a los que la humanidad debería hacer frente en el siglo XXI y propusiera la mejor manera en que las Naciones Unidas pudieran proporcionar seguridad colectiva para todos. El informe que presenta el Grupo a la Asamblea General con fecha 2 de diciembre de 2004 constituye un poderoso y detallado análisis de los problemas a los que se enfrenta la humanidad en el tiempo presente y del papel que las Naciones Unidas pueden desempeñar para solucionarlos y contiene los elementos esenciales del paquete de reformas que la Organización ha venido considerando, y todavía sigue haciéndolo, en el curso de los últimos tiempos. En particular por lo que se refiere al terrorismo, al que el Informe dedica su Capitulo VI, el texto se mueve entre aguas relativamente contradictorias (condena el terrorismo, pero al tiempo procede a la enumeración de las causas que supuestamente explican su aparición) sin por ello rehuir los aspectos más controvertidos del fenómeno: “La falta de consenso sobre una definición clara y bien conocida [del terrorismo] compromete la posición normativa y moral contra el terrorismo y ha mancillado la imagen de las Naciones Unidas”. Frente al argumento de que cualquier definición del terrorismo debe incluir “el caso de un Estado que utiliza fuerzas armadas contra civiles” los autores del informe consideran que “el marco jurídico y normativo aplicable a las violaciones por parte de los Estados es mucho mas sólido que en el caso de los actores no estatales”, para descartar la necesidad de que ese tema sea recogido en la definición del terrorismo. Y frente a la exigencia de que una definición del terrorismo no derogue el derecho a la resistencia de un pueblo bajo dominación extranjera, el informe, con harta razón por lo demás, argumenta que “el quid de la cuestión no es ese, sino el hecho de que la ocupación de ninguna manera justifica el asesinato de civiles”. Los autores del informe tienen incluso el coraje de proponer una posible definición del terrorismo: “Cualquier acto, además de los ya especificados en los convenios y convenciones vigentes sobre determinados actos de terrorismo, los Convenios de Ginebra y la Resolución 1566 (2004) del Consejo de Seguridad, destinado a causar la muerte o lesiones corporales graves a un civil o a un no combatiente, cuando el propósito de dicho acto, por su naturaleza o contexto, sea intimidar a una población u obligar a un gobierno o a una organización internacional a realizar un acto o a abstenerse de hacerlo”.

El secretario general recogió no pocas de las conclusiones del Informe del Grupo de Alto Nivel –llegando a endosar la definición del terrorismo que el Grupo había propuesto– en el discurso que pronunció el 10 de marzo de 2005 en Madrid, en un acto convocado para recordar el primer aniversario de los actos terroristas en la estación de Atocha. Es en ese momento cuando lanza un primer esbozo de la estrategia global de las Naciones Unidas contra el terrorismo que resume en “las cinco des”:

• “Disuadir” a los grupos descontentos de elegir el terrorismo como táctica para alcanzar sus objetivos.
• “Dificultar” a los terroristas el acceso a los medios para llevara cabo sus atentados.
•  Hacer “desistir” a los Estados de prestar apoyo a los terroristas.
• “Desarrollar” la capacidad de los Estados para prevenir el terrorismo.
• “Defender” los derechos humanos en la lucha contra el terrorismo.

El texto de Madrid merece lectura y recordatorio, entre otras cosas por la contundencia con que se pronuncia el secretario general contra el terrorismo –“no puede justificarse invocando causa alguna... es en sí mismo un ataque directo a los derechos humanos y al Estado de Derecho”– y por el recuerdo dedicado a todas las víctimas del terrorismo –“Debemos respetar a las víctimas. Debemos escucharlas. Debemos hacer todo lo que podamos por apoyarlas”–.

El informe del secretario general a la Asamblea General presentado el 21 de marzo de 2005 bajo el título “Un concepto mas amplio de libertad: desarrollo, seguridad y derechos humanos para todos”, recoge algunos de los aspectos esenciales del informe del Grupo de Alto Nivel, endosa algunas de sus conclusiones, en particular la definición del terrorismo propuesta, pide a los Estados miembros la adopción de una estrategia contra el terrorismo, insta la finalización de un convenio internacional para la represión de los actos de terrorismo nuclear –adoptado pocas semanas después–, pide el nombramiento de un relator especial “sobre la compatibilidad de los medios contra el terrorismo con las normas internacionales de derechos humanos” –también nombrado en el curso del mismo año– e insta a los Estados miembros a concertar un convenio general sobre el terrorismo. El Documento final de la Cumbre Mundial 2005, aprobado por Resolución de la Asamblea General el 16 de septiembre de ese año repite la misma petición, subraya “la importancia de asistir a las víctimas del terrorismo y de ayudarlas, a ellas y a sus familias, a sobrellevar sus pérdidas y su dolor”, y acoge con satisfacción los elementos de una estrategia para luchar contra el terrorismo presentados por el secretario general, que deberían ser posteriormente desarrolladas por la Asamblea General. Y en cumplimiento del mandato emanado de la Cumbre 2005, el secretario general presenta a la Asamblea General con fecha 27 de abril de 2006 el informe titulado “Unidos contra el terrorismo: recomendaciones para una estrategia mundial de lucha contra el terrorismo” que debería servir de base para la correspondiente decisión por parte de la Asamblea. Es un texto directamente inspirado en las manifestaciones anteriores del secretario general que respeta incluso la sistemática del discurso de Madrid, que no otorga ninguna concesión ni deja resquicios a ningún argumento que pueda ser utilizado para justificar los actos terroristas –la resbaladiza llamada a las “causas del terrorismo” se sitúa en el prisma bien diferente de “las condiciones que pueden ser aprovechadas por los terroristas”– y que concentra su atención en las medidas prácticas que la cooperación internacional, con la colaboración de las Naciones Unidas y bajo su tutela, puede desarrollar en la lucha contra el flagelo. No hay en él ninguna mención a la tan deseada y mencionada Convención General Contra el Terrorismo, y la omisión no se produce por coincidencia: las discusiones que habían tenido lugar en torno al terrorismo todos los meses precedentes, incluyendo las celebradas sobre el mismo proyecto de convención, habían mostrado claramente las profundas divergencias de criterio existentes sobre el tema del terrorismo y ante la evidencia de las dificultades el secretario general opta por una aproximación que se quiere realista. El texto evita la referencia a los temas que hasta el momento han sido la base para las discusiones “filosóficas” –la definición, las causas, el terrorismo de Estado, el derecho a la resistencia– para concentrarse en medidas de cooperación internacional. En el mes de julio de 2006 todavía no se había producido ningún acuerdo sobre esta nueva iniciativa del secretario general y la esperanza, no por todos compartida, es que en el otoño la Asamblea General puede llegar a finalizar algún tipo de acuerdo al respecto.

Es precisamente la incapacidad de los Estados miembros de las Naciones Unidas para ponerse de acuerdo sobre una Convención General Contra el Terrorismo la que bien resume la dificultad en que se encuentra la comunidad internacional para alcanzar niveles elevados de eficacia en la lucha contra esa lacra. Las Naciones Unidas siguen encarnando el más poderoso instrumento normativo que tiene a su alcance la comunidad de naciones en la prosecución de un mundo más justo y seguro y el balance que en ese terreno ofrece –incluido el que arriba queda reflejado sobre el terrorismo– es impresionante. Pero en la gestación de las normas y en su aplicación las Naciones Unidas poco pueden hacer sin o en contra de la voluntad de los Estados miembros. Esa realidad, que muchas veces se olvida, imputando a la Organización defectos que en su totalidad son patrimonio de los que la integran –la ONU sigue siendo una organización interestatal en la que el dogma de la soberanía nacional brilla con más fuerza que en ninguna otra parte– es la que debe ser tenida en cuenta para analizar las imperfecciones en la lucha antiterrorista tal como se predica, se practica y se percibe desde las Naciones Unidas.

Todavía no existe un consenso universal sobre la prohibición de utilizar la violencia indiscriminada por parte de agentes no estatales –es decir, los terroristas– para alcanzar fines políticos. Bajo la capa del deleznable cinismo reductor e igualitario que tantas veces se ha utilizado en este terreno –“mi combatiente por la libertad es tu terrorista”– siguen existiendo, aunque muchos de ellos no osen decir públicamente su nombre, sectores estatales que, bajo pretextos varios, alientan, financian, permiten, premian o aplauden actividades terroristas. La lucha contra el terrorismo, que tantas veces se ha mostrado eficaz en ámbitos nacionales, o en internacionales limitados, y que no necesita de la definición del terrorismo para continuar su tarea, encuentra obstáculos serios para su plenitud si la misma naturaleza del objeto en contra del cual se combate es radicalmente puesto en duda. Ese es el trasfondo real del problema de la definición del terrorismo y de la incapacidad de las Naciones Unidas para alcanzar consenso sobre una Convención General.

Pero ese no es el único dilema. En otras configuraciones de la alineación política, algunos Estados estiman que terrorismo es sólo aquel que a ellos les afecta, mientras que otros que sufren de los mismos métodos violentos –y conviene recordar que lo que iguala a todos los terroristas no es la ideología sino el método– están contemplando solo manifestaciones varias de luchas por la autodeterminación o en contra de la tiranía. Tanto como si los primeros Estados estimaran que los segundos se lo tienen bien merecido. Según esta óptica, habría terrorismos malos y otros no tan malos, explicables por la aplicación de diversas varas de medir, resultado de la famosa ley del embudo, ejemplo eminente de la existencia de raseros varios.

Claro que también existen aquellos que, en ausencia de una definición, y aprovechándose de la elasticidad del concepto, tienen la tentación de calificar como terrorista a todo aquel que se mueve, sobre todo en contra del gobierno de turno, para así rentabilizar la ola de horror que el fenómeno produce y de paso quitarse de encima sin muchos miramientos para los derechos humanos y las libertades fundamentales a los disidentes, opositores o críticos.

Otros, por el contrario, estiman que la lucha contra el terrorismo, por mucho que lo diga la ONU, no es su prioridad nacional, volcados como están en conseguir niveles aceptables de vida para sus respectivas poblaciones. Y ello, que revela no tanto una creencia sino una realidad respetable, hace que al menos la mitad de los Estados miembros de las Naciones Unidas no informen con regularidad a los órganos subsidiarios del Consejo de Seguridad del cumplimiento de sus obligaciones en este terreno. El término reporting fatigue, cansancio de tanto informe, es uno de los más repetidos hoy en los círculos antiterroristas del East River neoyorkino. La prestación de asistencia técnica a los países que se encuentran con tales dificultades es una cuestión prioritaria para los órganos competentes de la Organización, aún sabiendo de los obstáculos que la tarea encuentra: son muchos los que todavía no comprenden que mejorar la respuesta antiterrorista de los países que la necesitan no es sólo atender a la seguridad sino también hacerlo en beneficio del desarrollo y de la prosperidad –el terrorismo, sus antecedentes y sus consecuentes son terribles elementos destructivos de vidas y haciendas–.

Pero tanta es a veces la capacidad de atracción de la asistencia técnica que llegan algunos a confundirla con la lucha antiterrorista, como si ésta no debiera ser fruto de una determinada voluntad política y solo objeto de una cuidadosa atención desarrollista. El fenómeno puede llegar a producir un desenfoque tan profundo como para hacer olvidar aquello de lo que se está hablando. El terrorismo desaparece de la conversación.

El terrorismo, como todas las malas noticias, provoca reacciones tan profundas en el sentimiento como cortas en el tiempo. Los Estados que en el Consejo de Seguridad o, menos, en la Asamblea General reaccionan con prontitud y contundencia ante los atentados terroristas y prometen, como en su momento hiciera aquel ministro español del Interior, que van a buscar a los terroristas “en el mismo infierno”, olvidan la urgencia de la convocatoria cuando el nubarrón se ha disuelto y es otra la crisis a la que tienen que hacer frente. Aún contando con la persistencia en el tiempo de los órganos creados por el Consejo de Seguridad para obtener el cumplimiento de las correspondientes Resoluciones, y cuya tarea no puede ser en ningún caso minusvalorada, y con la benemérita y coherente actitud al respecto adoptada por el secretario general de las Naciones Unidas, lo cierto es que el peligro de una tentación burocratizadora y repetitiva, ayudada por todos aquellos que por razones varias quisieran vaciar de contenido el sistema, acecha a las tareas antiterroristas, posiblemente a muchas otras, de la Organización. Los órganos subsidiarios del Consejo de Seguridad toman decisiones sobre la base de la unanimidad de sus miembros. Se puede fácilmente comprender que así, y fuera de los momentos excepcionales, aún tratándose de un número reducido de quince Estados, las decisiones tardan en fraguarse y tienen de sólidas lo que también tienen de minimalistas. No es extraño que en esas circunstancias haya Estados que relativicen lo que la ONU les pueda aportar en su lucha contra el terrorismo y opten por instrumentos domésticos o bilaterales.

La Resolución 1566 del Consejo de Seguridad, que abría esperanzadoras vías para considerar la posibilidad de que la ONU administrara una lista global de individuos y organizaciones terroristas y, al tiempo, invitaba a la creación de un fondo internacional para ayudar a las víctimas del terrorismo y sus familias, no ha conducido a ninguna parte. La Resolución 1624 del Consejo de Seguridad, que ya sufrió la relativa degradación de verse situada bajo el Capitulo VI de la Carta en vez de estarlo, como el resto de las recientes Resoluciones sobre el terrorismo, bajo el más vigoroso Capitulo VII, debía recibir de todos los Estados miembros –ciento noventa y dos– informes sobre su cumplimiento con la finalidad de que el Comité Contra el Terrorismo transmita al Consejo el 14 de septiembre de 2006, un año después de su aprobación, noticia del grado de su cumplimiento. En julio de 2006 sólo cincuenta Estados habían cumplido con tal compromiso.

Y no se puede olvidar que en el trasfondo de las cuestiones que tienen que ver con el terrorismo, como en muchas otras que competen a las Naciones Unidas, la tensión permanente entre el Consejo y la Asamblea –o más bien entre la Asamblea y los cinco miembros permanentes del Consejo– tiene una influencia retardataria y negativa. Se quejan los miembros de la Asamblea de la intromisión del Consejo en esas cuestiones al tiempo que se muestran incapaces de encontrar consensos entre ellos mismos, pero cuando el Consejo actúa con la prontitud que le permite lo reducido de su composición y el peso con que en ella cuentan los permanentes, la Asamblea, o algunos de sus miembros, ponen en duda la validez de unas orientaciones que, según algunos, responderían exclusivamente a las agendas nacionales de las grandes potencias. La atmósfera general que desprende esta permanente situación impide también que el Consejo recurra a las sanciones o a la amenaza de las mismas, teñidas como están de la sospecha de ser el resultado de la imposición de los grandes o de alguno de ellos, y en consecuencia la invocación del Capitulo VII, nunca fácil de conseguir, a la postre puede convertirse en un alarde retórico.

Conclusión: La aportación conceptual y normativa de las Naciones Unidas a la lucha global contra el terrorismo es impresionante e imprescindible. Los comportamientos nacionales y la cooperación internacional han conocido sustanciales mejoras como consecuencia del papel de las Naciones Unidas en ese terreno. Las Naciones Unidas no pueden ni deben reemplazar el papel de los Estados individual o colectivamente considerados en la conducción de las acciones antiterroristas cuya legitimación, sin embargo, debe ser contrastada con las reglas y las orientaciones producidas por la Organización.

Esas reglas están todavía inconclusas, fundamentalmente debido a la falta de acuerdo entre los Estados Miembros para concluir una Convención General contra el Terrorismo. Esa falta de acuerdo revela a su vez la subsistencia de divergencias profundas en el seno de la comunidad internacional en torno a cuestiones centrales de la misma, tales como la utilización de la violencia, la responsabilidad de las fuerzas armadas en los conflictos internos, el derecho a la resistencia por parte de los pueblos sometidos a dominación extranjera o los límites de la práctica del derecho a la autodeterminación. El Consejo de Seguridad, el secretario general, la misma Asamblea General, ha emitido normas y orientaciones al respecto que, sin embargo, no son todavía aceptadas por todos.

A pesar de esa y de otras limitaciones, que tienen que ver fundamentalmente con la inevitable presencia en el seno de las Naciones Unidas de ciento noventa y dos agendas nacionales diferentes y contrapuestas, el sistema se ha sabido dotar de una maquinaria incipiente pero ya relativamente robusta para hacer cumplir las normas dictadas y eventualmente prestar la asistencia necesaria a todos aquellos que la precisen. En los cinco años trascurridos desde el 11 de septiembre de 2001, y a pesar de la evidente mejora en las capacidades nacionales e internacionales de prevención ante y respuesta contra el terrorismo, las manifestaciones mortíferas del mismo han seguido produciéndose. No corresponde a ningún interés nacional concreto sino al general de la humanidad el mantener, como lo hizo la Cumbre 2005, que el terrorismo “constituye una de las amenazas más graves para la paz y la seguridad internacionales”. La cooperación internacional bajo la inspiración y el mandato de las Naciones Unidas es hoy en día el método más eficaz para enfrentarse con él. Corresponde en última instancia e los Estados miembros el adoptar las medidas oportunas para desarrollarlo.

Javier Rupérez
Subsecretario general y director ejecutivo del Comité contra el Terrorismo en las Naciones Unidas, Nueva York

Nota:

(1) Convenio relativo a las infracciones y ciertos otros actos cometidos a bordo de las aeronaves. Firmado en Tokio el 14 de septiembre de 1963, en vigor desde el 4 de diciembre de 1969.
(2) Convenio para la represión del apoderamiento ilícito de aeronaves. Firmado en La Haya el 16 de diciembre de 1970, en vigor desde el 14 de octubre de 1971.
(3) Convenio para la represión de actos ilícitos contra la seguridad de la aviación civil. Firmado en Montreal el 23 de septiembre, en vigor desde el 26 de enero de 1973.
(4) Protocolo para la represión de actos ilícitos de violencia en los aeropuertos que presten servicio a la aviación civil internacional, complementario del Convenio para la represión de actos ilícitos contra la seguridad de la aviación civil. Firmado en Montreal el 24 de febrero de 1988, en vigor desde el 9 de agosto de 1989.
(5) Convenio sobre la prevención y el castigo de delitos contra personas internacionalmente protegidas, inclusive los agentes diplomáticos. Aprobado por la Asamblea General de la ONU el 14 de diciembre de 1973, en vigor desde el 20 de febrero de 1977.
(6) Convención internacional contra la toma de rehenes. Aprobada por la Asamblea General de la ONU el 17 de diciembre de 1979, en vigor desde el 3 de junio de 1983.
(7) Convención sobre la protección física de los materiales nucleares. Firmada en Viena el 3 de marzo de 1980, en vigor desde el 8 de febrero de 1987.
(8) Convenio para la represión de actos ilícitos contra la seguridad de la navegación marítima. Hecho en Roma el 10 de marzo de 1988, en vigor desde el 1 de marzo de 1992.
(9) Protocolo para la represión de actos ilícitos contra la seguridad de las plataformas fijas emplazadas en la plataforma continental. Hecho en Roma el 10 de marzo de 1988, en vigor desde el 1 de marzo de 1992.
(10) Convenio sobre la marcación de explosivos plásticos para los fines de detección. Firmado en Montreal el 1 de marzo de 1991, en vigor desde el 21 de junio de 1998.
(11) Convenio Internacional para la represión de los atentados terroristas cometidos con bombas. Aprobado por la Asamblea General de la ONU el 15 de diciembre de 1997, en vigor desde el 10 de abril de 2002.
(12) Convenio internacional para la represión de la financiación del terrorismo. Aprobado por la Asamblea General de la ONU el 9 de diciembre de 1999, en vigor desde el 10 de abril de 2002.
(13) Convenio internacional para la represión de los actos de terrorismo nuclear. Aprobado por la Asamblea General de la ONU el 13 de abril de 2005. Todavía no ha entrado en vigor.

Lancement de la Stratégie antiterroriste mondiale des Nations Unies 19/9/2006 

LES NATIONS UNIES LANCENT LEUR STRATÉGIE MONDIALE CONTRE LE TERRORISME

Des ministres appellent à sa pleine mise en œuvre face au « fléau du XXIème siècle »

En marge du débat général de l’Assemblée générale, le Vice-Secrétaire général des Nations Unies, M. Mark Malloch Brown, a lancé cet après-midi, au nom du Secrétaire général, M. Kofi Annan, la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme des Nations Unies.  Tout en notant l’importance de l’adoption par consensus de cette Stratégie mondiale par les 192 États Membres de l’Assemblée générale, le 8 septembre dernier, il a souligné que c’est son application effective qui la rendra historique.

En mars 2005, le Secrétaire général avait lancé un appel à tous les pays pour qu’ils s’unissent derrière un Plan d’action commun contre le terrorisme.  En réponse, cette Stratégie comprend des mesures de lutte contre le terrorisme qui, tout en protégeant les droits de l’homme, renforceraient la capacité des États responsables et consolideraient l’état de droit.  « Nous, États Membres de l’Organisation des Nations Unies, décidons solennellement de condamner systématiquement, sans équivoque et vigoureusement, le terrorisme sous toutes ses formes et dans toutes ses manifestations, quels qu’en soient les auteurs, les lieux et les buts, car il constitue une des menaces les plus graves pour la paix et la sécurité internationales », insiste le Plan d’action de cette Stratégie.

La Présidente de l’Assemblée générale, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, a déclaré qu’il s’agissait là d’une preuve extraordinaire de la détermination des Nations Unies « à affronter le terrorisme de face ».  La Stratégie va venir s’ajouter au cadre juridique de l’Assemblée générale, a-t-elle indiqué, estimant que les États Membres et l’ONU devraient travailler ensemble et de manière cohérente dans le cadre de cette lutte.  Elle a précisé que la Stratégie était un instrument qui pourrait être mis à jour selon l’évolution du terrorisme, notamment dans le cadre de l’examen de sa mise en œuvre tous les deux ans.  Elle a par ailleurs noté qu’il restait beaucoup à faire, insistant particulièrement sur la nécessité de finaliser le projet de convention générale sur le terrorisme international dans les meilleurs délais.  « Ce n’est qu’en travaillant ensemble que nous pourrons nous débarrasser du fléau que représente le terrorisme », a-t-elle affirmé.

À l’instar de la Suisse, de nombreuses délégations se sont félicitées que l’ONU se dote d’un plan d’action complet de lutte contre le terrorisme à l’échelle mondiale qui reconnaisse à la fois la nécessité de s’attaquer aux causes potentielles du terrorisme, et celle d’intensifier la coopération internationale dans ce domaine.  Soulignant qu’aucune condition ne saurait excuser ou justifier des actes de terrorisme, les États ont en outre réaffirmé leur détermination à prendre toutes les mesures en vue d’éliminer les conditions propices à la propagation du terrorisme, s’agissant notamment des conflits qui perdurent, de la déshumanisation des victimes du terrorisme sous toutes ses formes et manifestations, de l’absence de légalité et des violations des droits de l’homme, de la discrimination ethnique, nationale et religieuse, de l’exclusion politique, de la marginalisation socioéconomique et de l’absence de gouvernance.

Certains Ministres des affaires étrangères qui ont pris la parole, tels que celui du Liban et de l’Égypte, ont aussi salué le fait que le texte confirme l’obligation des États de s’abstenir de toute participation à des actes terroristes et qu’il reconnaisse l’occupation d’un territoire comme l’un des facteurs propices à sa propagation.  Toutefois, la délégation du Yémen, entre autres, a regretté qu’une définition claire du terrorisme n’ait pu être atteinte, notamment en ce qui concerne la notion de résistance légitime à une occupation étrangère.  Les États Membres, à l’exemple de la délégation du Japon, ont par ailleurs insisté sur l’importance, dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre de cette Stratégie, de continuer à susciter le dialogue entre les civilisations, les cultures, les peuples et les religions, ainsi qu’à créer les conditions d’un environnement socioéconomique ne favorisant pas le recours au terrorisme.   

« Loin de s’exclure mutuellement, l’efficacité de la lutte antiterroriste et la protection des droits de l’homme sont interdépendantes et complémentaires.  La défense des droits de l’homme est donc l’une des conditions essentielles du succès d’une stratégie antiterroriste », avait soutenu le Secrétaire général dans son rapport sur la question*, « S’unir contre le terrorisme: recommandations pour une stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme ».

Les représentants des pays suivants ont pris la parole au cours de cette réunion de haut niveau: Singapour, Espagne, Finlande au nom de l’Union européenne, Égypte, Philippines, Liban, Suisse, Turquie, Japon, Australie, Royaume-Uni, Fédération de Russie, Yémen et Israël.

*A/60/285

Déclarations

Mme HAYA RASHED AL KHALIFA (Bahreïn), Présidente de la soixante et unième session de l’Assemblée générale, a souligné que le lancement de la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme marquait une étape importante dans la lutte des Nations Unies contre le fléau du terrorisme, une des menaces les plus sérieuses à la paix internationale.  Elle a affirmé que cette Stratégie mondiale représentait la volonté commune des Nations Unies à faire face au terrorisme qui, sous toutes ses formes et manifestations, quels qu’en soient ses auteurs ou ses mobiles, doit être condamné.  Exhortant tous les États Membres à adhérer aux instruments juridiques de lutte contre le terrorisme, elle a indiqué que la Stratégie mondiale complétait ce cadre juridique en fournissant des mesures concrètes axées sur les résultats.

Elle a rappelé que le Plan d’action de cette Stratégie reconnaissait la nécessité de traiter des causes sous-jacentes pouvant mener au terrorisme, même si aucune d’entre elles ne peut justifier de tels actes.  De plus, elle a fait valoir que ce Plan d’action contient des mesures concrètes pour mieux combattre le terrorisme, en insistant particulièrement sur la coopération entre les États Membres et les Nations Unies ainsi que sur le renforcement des capacités aux niveaux national et international.  Elle reconnaît aussi la nécessité de promouvoir le respect des droits de l’homme et de la primauté du droit dans le cadre de cette lutte.  Enfin, elle a estimé que cette Stratégie mondiale devait rester un document vivant qui sera mis à jour afin de répondre, de manière adéquate, à l’environnement changeant ainsi qu’au développement des technologies dans ce domaine.  Il faut traduire la Stratégie en véritables actions, a-t-elle conclu, en appelant également les pays à conclure les négociations sur le projet de convention générale sur le terrorisme international.

M. GEORGE YEO, Ministre des affaires étrangères de Singapour, a déclaré que le lancement de la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme des Nations Unies constituait une étape importante dans la lutte contre ce fléau.  Notant que son pays avait coprésidé les pourparlers relatifs à la formulation de cette Stratégie, il s’est félicité de la flexibilité et de l’esprit de compromis qui ont permis d’aboutir à ce consensus.  Il a estimé que cette Stratégie mondiale n’était qu’un élément dans une lutte beaucoup plus large contre le terrorisme.  Reconnaissant que les discussions sur les causes latentes du terrorisme étaient souvent complexes et controversées, il a affirmé que seul un dialogue basé sur le respect pouvait mener à la compréhension et au compromis.  Le Ministre a argué que les terroristes utilisaient la race et la religion pour diviser et pour recruter de nouveaux membres.  Il a fait valoir l’importance de contrer cette Stratégie en rapprochant les civilisations, notamment par le biais d’initiatives comme l’Alliance pour les civilisations.

M. MIGUEL ANGEL MORATINOS, Ministre des affaires étrangères et de la coopération de l’Espagne, a rendu hommage à toutes les victimes du terrorisme à New York, Madrid, Beslan, Londres, Bali, Charm el-Cheikh et de nombreux autres endroits du monde.  « Il est particulièrement important de condamner sans équivoque, ni condition, toute forme de terrorisme dans un respect total des droits de l’homme », a-t-il déclaré, appelant à mettre en place une assistance efficace aux victimes du terrorisme.

Aux niveaux européen et méditerranéen, l’Espagne, elle-même victime du terrorisme, cherche à développer la coopération avec les pays voisins dans la lutte antiterroriste, a indiqué le Ministre qui a espéré que cette Stratégie contribuerait à finaliser le projet de convention générale contre le terrorisme.  « En adoptant cette Stratégie, nous nous sommes dotés d’un programme de travail qui nous engagera à travailler aux niveaux national, régional et mondial », s’est-il félicité.

M. MARK MALLOCH BROWN, Vice-Secrétaire général des Nations Unies, intervenant au nom du Secrétaire général, a déclaré que l’Assemblée générale avait forgé une vision globale et coordonnée pour faire face au terrorisme à tous les niveaux.  Elle résulte d’une conviction fondamentale que nous partageons tous: le terrorisme sous toutes ses formes et quels qu’en soit ses auteurs ou ses mobiles est inacceptable et ne peut jamais être justifié, a-t-il affirmé.  Notant l’importance de l’adoption de cette Stratégie mondiale par les 192 États Membres, il a souligné que c’est son application effective qui la rendra historique.  Il a appelé les États Membres à traduire sans délai les engagements en réalité. 

Ainsi, M. Malloch Brown a fait valoir qu’il faudrait combattre le financement des terroristes, les empêcher d’acquérir des armes et s’assurer qu’on ne leur accorde pas d’asile.  De plus, il a souligné qu’il faudrait aborder les conditions propices à la propagation du terrorisme, même si aucune d’entre elles ne justifie de tels actes.  M. Malloch Brown a aussi estimé qu’il faudrait résoudre toutes les questions en suspens liées à la future convention générale sur le terrorisme international afin que ce texte puisse être adopté par tous les États.  M. Malloch Brown a souligné également que la lutte contre le terrorisme respecte les droits de l’homme et la primauté du droit.

Le Vice-Secrétaire général a, par ailleurs, mis l’accent sur l’importance de renforcer la cohérence du système de l’ONU dans ce domaine.  Il a déclaré que les États avaient désormais la possibilité de prouver que la coopération multilatérale fonctionnait dans la lutte contre le terrorisme.  Nous avons enfin une réponse véritablement globale à cette menace mondiale, et j’espère que vous saisirez cette occasion, a-t-il conclu.

M. ERKKI TUOMIOJA, Ministre des affaires étrangères de la Finlande, s’exprimant au nom de l’Union européenne, a déclaré que le terrorisme posait une grave menace à la sécurité des États, aux valeurs démocratiques des sociétés et aux droits et libertés des peuples.  Aucune cause ou souffrance ne peut justifier les actes terroristes, a-t-il insisté.  Notant que cette menace mondiale nécessitait une réponse globale, il a affirmé que les Nations Unies jouaient un rôle clef dans la lutte collective contre le terrorisme.  Il a indiqué que l’Union européenne saluait la Stratégie antiterroriste mondiale et que son adoption par consensus montrait la ferme détermination de l’Assemblée générale à s’unir pour combattre le terrorisme.  De plus, il a estimé que l’Assemblée générale devait maintenir cet élan, notamment afin de s’accorder sur la Convention globale sur le terrorisme.

Le Ministre finlandais a exhorté les États Membres qui ne l’avaient pas encore fait à ratifier ou à adhérer aux 16 conventions des Nations Unies relatives à la lutte contre le terrorisme ainsi qu’aux protocoles qui s’y rattachent et qui forment un cadre juridique pour les mesures à prendre dans ce domaine.  Il s’est félicité que cette Stratégie mondiale reconnaisse que la promotion des droits de l’homme et de l’état de droit est essentielle dans la lutte contre le terrorisme.  En outre, il a souligné l’importance du renforcement des capacités dans tous les États comme un des éléments clefs de cette Stratégie mondiale.  Dans une perspective de coordination et de coopération, le Ministre a salué l’institutionnalisation du Groupe de travail pour la mise en œuvre de la lutte antiterroriste des nations et a affirmé que les États Membres devraient lui assurer des ressources adéquates.  Enfin, il a fait valoir que l’Union européenne continuerait à déployer ses efforts afin de renforcer le dialogue et de promouvoir la compréhension mutuelle entre les cultures et les civilisations. 

M. AHMED ABOUL GHEIT, Ministre des affaires étrangères de l’Égypte, a fait valoir que la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme augmentait la coopération internationale qui lie les efforts nationaux de lutte contre le terrorisme.  Notant que cette Stratégie réaffirmait le rôle de l’Assemblée générale dans ce combat, il a rappelé que son pays avait activement participé à ses négociations.  Il s’est félicité de son adoption par consensus, même si selon lui, certains éléments importants ne figurent pas dans le document.  L’Assemblée générale doit continuer à l’actualiser et la développer, a-t-il suggéré.  Ainsi, il a salué la décision d’examiner sa mise en œuvre, tous les deux ans, afin d’en assurer son efficacité. 

Le Ministre égyptien des affaires étrangères a argué que le lancement de cette Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme permettrait aux Nations Unies de sortir du cadre étroit adopté pour traiter du terrorisme, puisque ce sujet n’était auparavant, qu’abordé au sein du Conseil de sécurité et de ses Comités contre le terrorisme.  De plus, il a affirmé que ce document constituait une nouvelle approche dans la lutte contre le terrorisme puisqu’il reconnaît l’importance de traiter des conditions propices à la propagation de ces actes.  Il a insisté sur l’engagement des États à mettre fin à l’occupation étrangère, une des causes selon lui de cette propagation.  Il a jugé impératif d’adopter des approches courageuses et de régler les différends qui alimentent le terrorisme, en particulier celle de l’occupation étrangère de territoires par la force, qui prive les peuples de leur droit à l’autodétermination.  Il a également indiqué que le texte réaffirmait l’obligation des États de s’abstenir de la participation à des actes de terrorisme et a estimé que des mesures légales devaient être prises contre les États qui ne la respectaient pas.

M. ALBERTO G. RUMULO, Ministre des affaires étrangères des Philippines, a estimé que le lancement de la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme était un catalyseur qui unissait les États pour protéger les peuples du monde.  « Elle comporte de nombreux éléments qui complètent les efforts nationaux de lutte contre le terrorisme », s’est-il félicité.  Son pays, a-t-il assuré, réaffirme son soutien à l’adoption d’une convention générale sur le terrorisme international qui renforcerait le cadre juridique existant et constituerait l’épine dorsale de la lutte contre le terrorisme, en particulier pour les pays qui ont le moins de capacités nationales de lutte.

« Il ne suffit pas d’empêcher les terroristes de commettre leurs actes lâches », a aussi déclaré le Ministre, appelant à aussi s’attaquer à la pauvreté et favoriser le dialogue, notamment au niveau des religions.  Le Forum de coopération pour la paix, organisé par les Philippines et associant responsables politiques, société civile et chefs religieux et communautaires, s’inscrit dans cette promotion d’une culture d’amitié et de paix entre les peuples, a-t-il souligné.

M. FAWZI SALLOUKH, Ministre des affaires étrangères et de l’émigration du Liban, a condamné le terrorisme sous toutes ses formes.  Il a indiqué que la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme constituait une étape nécessaire pour obtenir un consensus mais n’abordait pas toutes les préoccupations des pays.  Il a toutefois estimé qu’une des réalisations de cette Stratégie était de reconnaître, en dépit de termes insuffisants, le droit légitime des peuples à résister une puissance occupante.  Il s’est aussi félicité que le document souligne la nécessité de traiter des conditions propices à la propagation du terrorisme ainsi que celle de se conformer au droit international dans les activités liées à cette lutte.  Par ailleurs, il a noté que cette Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme donnait à l’Assemblée générale, organe des Nations Unies qui connaît la plus large représentation, un rôle central dans la lutte contre le terrorisme.

Le Ministre libanais a toutefois regretté que la Stratégie n’inclue pas certains principes de base dont une définition du terrorisme ainsi que la condamnation du terrorisme d’État.  Les États doivent être tenus responsables de ce type d’actes et ne peuvent être au-dessus de la loi, a-t-il soutenu.  Enfin, il a salué l’examen tous les deux ans de cette Stratégie afin qu’elle demeure un instrument efficace.

M. ULRICH LEHNER, Chef de la Division des organisations internationales du Département fédéral des affaires étrangères de la Suisse, s’est félicité que pour la première fois de son histoire, l’ONU se dote d’un plan d’action complet de lutte contre le terrorisme à l’échelle mondiale qui reconnaisse la nécessité de s’attaquer aux causes potentielles du terrorisme et fasse preuve de la même détermination à intensifier la coopération internationale entre polices et institutions judiciaires.  Il a également salué le fait que la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme réaffirme la complémentarité entre la lutte contre le terrorisme, le respect de l’état de droit et la sauvegarde des droits de l’homme.

« La Suisse juge primordial que la communauté internationale réponde de façon encore plus cohérente à la menace terroriste », a insisté M. Lehner.  Cette riposte doit recourir à tous les moyens pour la priver de ses ressources, en portant toute l’attention nécessaire aux victimes des actes terroristes et en rehaussant la légitimité de cette lutte par un respect accru des droits de l’homme.  Enfin, il a formulé l’espoir que l’Assemblée générale adoptera sans tarder, renforcée par cet élan, le texte d’une convention générale sur le terrorisme international, qui viendra compléter les 16 conventions et protocoles sectoriels existants.

M. RAFET AKGUNAY, Vice-Ministre des affaires étrangères de la Turquie, a estimé que le lancement de la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme était un tournant qui devrait être reconnu par tous.  « En tant que pays qui est la cible du terrorisme depuis longtemps, nous avons tiré d’importantes leçons à propos desquelles il semble, aujourd’hui, y avoir un consensus mondial », a-t-il affirmé, soulignant que le terrorisme est un crime contre l’humanité qu’aucune circonstance ne peut justifier.

Le Vice-Ministre a, en outre, déclaré que le terrorisme était un phénomène en constante évolution qui tirait parti de la mondialisation de toutes les manières possibles, ce qui lui conférait un spectre de plus en plus large.  « Notre lutte contre le terrorisme doit donc être globale et multidimensionnelle », a-t-il dit, rappelant qu’aucune nation n’avait le pouvoir de triompher, seule, du terrorisme.  Les Nations Unies sont l’instance la plus appropriée pour établir les bases d’une Stratégie mondiale sur le sujet, a-t-il estimé, prévenant qu’un échec à travailler ensemble ne ferait que nourrir le terrorisme.  À cet égard, il a exhorté tous les États Membres à adopter le projet de convention générale sur le terrorisme international, « qui pourrait servir de pièce centrale de la lutte mondiale ».

M. SHINYO TAKAHIRO (Japon) s’est félicité du lancement de la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme et du fait que, malgré leurs différences d’opinion, les États aient adopté une approche basée sur l’action et les résultats.  Nous avons envoyé un message très clair contre le terrorisme, a-t-il précisé.  Cette Stratégie n’aurait de valeur que si elle était appliquée pleinement, a-t-il estimé, avant d’exhorter toutes les parties à faire des efforts dans ce sens.  Il a reconnu qu’il était nécessaire de prendre en compte les conditions propices à la propagation du terrorisme afin de créer un environnement qui ne favoriserait pas de tels actes.  Le Japon, en tenant compte de la sécurité des personnes, travaille sur ces questions depuis longtemps, a-t-il fait valoir.  Soulignant la détermination du Japon à contribuer à la mise en en œuvre des mesures antiterroristes, il a déclaré qu’il serait important d’assurer l’efficacité de la Stratégie mondiale par le suivi des progrès accomplis dans son application.
 

M. ALEXANDER DOWNER, Ministre des affaires étrangères de l’Australie, au nom du Canada et de la Nouvelle-Zélande, a souligné qu’il n’y avait pas de menace contemporaine plus importante pour la paix et la sécurité internationales que le terrorisme, comme en témoignent les récentes explosions en Afghanistan, en Iraq, en Somalie et en Thaïlande.  Les États sont déterminés, en vertu de cette Stratégie, à condamner fermement et sans équivoque le terrorisme sous toutes ses formes, s’est-il félicité, y voyant « un message d’une importance fondamentale ».  Il a également réaffirmé son appui à l’engagement de s’attaquer à tous les facteurs qui contribuent au terrorisme mais a regretté que les idéologies extrémistes n’y aient pas été incluses.

Les États doivent prendre des mesures concrètes pour prévenir et combattre le terrorisme et pour renforcer leurs capacités nationales de lutte, a poursuivi le Ministre, mais le terrorisme a aujourd’hui une dimension mondiale et une réponse globale est donc aussi importante.  Appelant tous les États à s’accorder sur une convention générale sur le terrorisme international afin de s’assurer que tous les actes terroristes tombent sous le coup du droit international, il a estimé que, par l’adoption de cette Stratégie mondiale, l’Assemblée générale a montré qu’elle peut agir de manière décisive sur les questions internationales contemporaines ».

M. KIM HOWELLS, Ministre d’État pour les affaires étrangères et du Commonwealth du Royaume-Uni, a estimé que le terrorisme était une attaque contre les valeurs fondamentales de l’ONU: la primauté du droit, la protection des civils et les principes de respect mutuel entre les peuples de différentes religion et cultures.  Il s’est donc félicité que les États Membres se soient accordés pour condamner le terrorisme et pour montrer leur détermination face à cette menace.  Il s’est réjoui que la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme se base sur les recommandations faites par le Secrétaire général et a appuyé l’élan visant à mobiliser le système de l’ONU dans cet effort.  Notant le travail qui reste à accomplir, il a, entre autres, souligné l’importance de dissuader les gens à avoir recours au terrorisme et de renforcer la capacité des États à protéger leurs citoyens.

Le Ministre a, en outre, mis l’accent sur la nécessité de partager les meilleures pratiques.  L’ONU peut aider les États à développer leur législation nationale en la matière ainsi que des partenariats avec la société civile, a-t-il ajouté, en affirmant que les gouvernements ne pouvaient, à eux seuls, remporter la lutte contre le terrorisme.  S’agissant des mesures visant à faire obstacle aux activités terroristes, il a particulièrement insisté sur les obligations liées aux déplacements.  Enfin, il a argué que cette condamnation commune du terrorisme n’était qu’un premier pas.  Il faut maintenant travailler ensemble pour garantir la pleine mise en œuvre de ce Plan d’action, a-t-il conclu.

M. ALEXANDER YAKOVENKO, Vice-Ministre des affaires étrangères de la Fédération de Russie, a estimé que l’adoption par consensus de la Stratégie des Nations Unies contre le terrorisme était un pas important pour l’Assemblée générale, très symbolique alors que l’on rendait actuellement hommage aux victimes du 11 septembre 2001 et de la tragédie de Beslan.  Il s’est réjoui de voir des initiatives de la Russie reprises dans ce document, notamment l’interdiction de l’incitation au terrorisme et la coopération renforcée avec la société civile, ainsi que l’encouragement au dialogue entre les civilisations et les religions.  La Stratégie renforce le caractère multilatéral de la lutte antiterroriste, a-t-il également assuré.

M. AHMED HASSAN MOHAMED (Yémen) a estimé que la Stratégie antiterroriste adoptée aujourd’hui était le résultat de discussions ardues qui représentait un premier pas dans la bonne direction, d’autant que le Yémen a été l’une des victimes les plus anciennes du terrorisme.  De nombreuses propositions ont été faites contre la diffusion de ce fléau, mais le représentant a regretté que la notion de terrorisme d’état ne figure pas dans le document, ainsi que l’absence d’une définition de la distinction entre terrorisme et résistance légitime.  Il a également souligné que l’élimination de la pauvreté, le droit au développement et la nécessité de ne pas offenser les religions et les textes sacrés devraient figurer dans le document.  « Il ne faut pas relier le terrorisme à une religion quelle qu’elle soit », a enfin souligné le représentant.

M. DANIEL CARMON (Israël) a souligné que le terrorisme est un problème mondial qui ne pourra être vaincu qu’au niveau mondial.  Il s’est félicité que la Stratégie mondiale contre le terrorisme souligne que les actes terroristes, quels qu’en soient les auteurs ou les mobiles, ne peuvent être justifiés sous aucun prétexte.  Il a cependant regretté que la Stratégie, telle qu’elle a été adoptée et lancée aujourd’hui, ne comporte plus certaines dispositions.

« Israël est la cible d’attaques terroristes constantes lancées par le Hezbollah et le Hamas », a indiqué le Représentant, accusant la Syrie et l’Iran de parrainer ce terrorisme.  Toutefois, il a réaffirmé que le terrorisme ne reconnaît aucune frontière et menace tous les individus directement.  Plus que jamais notre monde est divisé entre les modérés et les extrémistes qui se soutiennent mutuellement dans leurs activités terroristes et incitent les jeunes à la haine, par des livres et des moyens éducatifs, ce qui n’est pas moins dangereux que le terrorisme lui-même, a estimé M. Carmon.  L’incitation à la violence va faire naître la génération future du terrorisme, a-t-il prévenu.  Le Représentant s’est déclaré convaincu que, sans excuse donnée à un quelconque acte terroriste, la communauté internationale peut mettre fin au terrorisme.