Gustavo de Aristegui said there is a lack of knowledge in
many parts of the world about the meaning of the values of
the West and Islam. Fanaticism on both sides, Western and
Islam, has made it difficult to reach mutual understanding.
It needs to be stated that radical Islam is an ideology that has
nothing to do with Islam. In fact, Muslims stand first among
victims of the radical Islamist violence. Islamist terrorists
want to overthrow regimes in the Muslim world that do
not accept their radical ideology, and wish to establish the
Caliphate abolished by Ataturk in the early 20th century. In
addition, they want to re-conquer the lands lost by Muslims
in their history, such as Andalusia in Spain. They play with
terms such as “the lesser Jihad” and “the greater Jihad” to
spread fanaticism and impose it on less educated people who
are easy to manipulate and imbue with ideas and basics. The
West must understand that these activities have no relation
with Islam. Also, it is erroneous to suggest that the American
foreign policy has created terrorism, because these radical
ideas are rooted in their mindset and will not disappear even
if all of the problems in the Middle East are suddenly solved.
Security solutions, international cooperation, exchange of
intelligence information and security operations are all not
sufficient. This does not mean that security is not necessary
or not highly important, but security alone is not enough.
The issue of human rights is essential in building bridges
between the West and the Muslim worlds. We should not
be talking about dialogue, or even a clash of civilizations,
because there is only one civilization shared by all of us.