BY ERDAL SAFAK
SABAH - Five years of Turkish campaigning to win a temporary seat on the UN Security Council for 2009-2010 are about to end. Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and his staff have been lobbying in New York, where elections are set to start tomorrow. Besides Turkey, other candidates in the Western European Group are Iceland and Austria. Two out of these three countries will be elected. The math is simple: We have to get two-thirds of the votes from 192 UN member countries, meaning 128 countries. Members of the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) have pledged their full support, along with many countries in Africa, the Pacific, Caribbean, Central Asia, Europe, and Latin and Central America. In addition, Turkey's mediation in Syrian-Israeli talks, and its active role in the Iraq, Iran and Lebanon issues and in the Caucasus, have made it a hub for global diplomacy. If the promises of support and praise for Ankara's moves are reflected in the ballot box, Turkey should win more than the needed 128 votes.
But no matter the outcome, two-year Security Council membership shouldn't be Turkey's diplomatic goal. We should think bigger and expand our vision, because the deck is being reshuffled on the world stage, and roles are being reassigned. The fallout of the financial crisis will not only be economic, as the political order will also change radically. In other words, a new world will come out of this crisis. We can already begin to see it. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck said that the US will lose its status as a world financial superpower. French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said that the world won't be the same. Martin Schulz, chairman of the Socialist Group in European Parliament, said that we're witnessing the end of American sovereignty. The new order and era will require new international institutions. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants a new Bretton Woods order, whereas French President Nicolas Sarkozy is suggesting global economic and political reforms.
The number of countries signing onto the EU-US action plan to end the panic on stock exchanges has promoted stability, and is also the first test of efforts for international restructuring in the new era, and it passed successfully. This will probably include a revised G-8. As you know, the G-8 still consists of the US, Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. Sarkozy, who will likely lead economic and political reform initiatives, argues that the new G should reflect the balances of globalization and the post-crisis era, and so its numbers should swell to 14. Under this, the rising powers of China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa would be invited. I can take no issue with this. But who do you think Sarkozy is suggesting as the 14th member? Egypt! Yes, Egypt! French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner went to Cairo last weekend to deliver Sarkozy's suggestion. So what about Turkey? Nobody mentions Turkey. Turkey's economy ranks number 17 in the world, with a gross domestic product of $657 billion, whereas Egypt is number 52 with just $128 billion. I don't think that Turkey, which is among the world's top 20 economies, will just sit and watch these efforts, but instead should go into action before this new order is finalized, because it will become a kind of global government.