BY ERDAL SAFAK
SABAH - Representatives from nearly 50 countries met in Washington this week at the invitation of US President Barack Obama. The criteria for the two-day global Nuclear Security Summit's guest list were as follows.
-'Nuclear Club' members were naturally invited: Russia, Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan. (Israel is an unofficial member of the club.)
-Others were invited as they have nuclear power plants or research reactors: Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Kazakhstan, and altogether almost 30 countries.
-Some were invited as regional powers: Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.
-As for Turkey, it was invited as both a regional power and a country with a nuclear research reactor.
Of course, some countries fit the criteria but were left off the guest list: Iran and North Korea, as they have been continuing nuclear tests despite warnings and sanctions from the international community. Also among these countries is Syria, as it hasn't allowed International Atom Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors on its soil.
Representatives from 47 countries attended the summit, and a White House spokesman said the inclusion of UN, European Union and IAEA representatives pushed the number to 50.
There's a symbolic meaning to this number. The spokesman was alluding to the April 1945 San Francisco conference called by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the conclusion of World War II, which 50 countries attended (Roosevelt himself died just weeks before the meeting). At that conference, the foundations for a new world were laid with an agreement for the establishment of the UN.
And since that date, Obama is the first US president to convene such a summit.
With representatives from 50 countries and international organizations, Obama has started the quest for a new world.