۱۰ فروردین ۱۴۰۳ |۱۹ رمضان ۱۴۴۵ | Mar 29, 2024
News ID: 359122
14 October 2019 - 17:08
Istanbul moot: 'Muslims need to bolster civil society'

Introducing the theme of conference, Sami A. Al-Arian, director of the host Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), said that one of the main obstacles for the political progress and economic development of many Muslim societies .

Hawzah News Agency (Istanbul, Turkey) - A three-day international conference to debate civil-military relations began in Istanbul on Sunday afternoon with the participation of over 20 scholars from across the globe.

Introducing the theme of conference, Sami A. Al-Arian, director of the host Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), said that one of the main obstacles for the political progress and economic development of many Muslim societies such as Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Algeria, Sudan, and Indonesia has been the civil-military relations.

He said that CIGA, which is affiliated to Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, has held five international conferences in the past to discuss various issues concerning the Muslim world.

Louay Safi, a professor of Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, said that this conference is looking at Muslim-majority societies that have been facing a lot of difficulties in attaining the democratic rule.

“The accountability of the militaries in Muslim countries is out of the scope of civil society,” he said.

“Society has to be part of transformation [towards civilian rule],” he said and called for making civil society stronger in Muslim world.

He said that Turkey provides a good model for Muslim countries to follow. “I think Turkish model is [yet] incomplete,” he said, “but at least as far as having people who care about not only the interests of the few but interests of the many taking hold of power and using it wisely to advance the common interest […] This is a very good example.”

Speaking on whether Turkey is a model for Muslim-majority countries, Croissant said: “Turkish military is very different from Arab militaries; it is much more institutionalized, professionalized. It has a national ethos.”

Sahar Aziz, a professor from Rutgers University Law School in the U.S., said that militaries in the Middle East “do care about their legitimacy in the eyes of the people”.

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