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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July/August 2004, page 89 Diplomatic Doings Ambassadors’ Forum
An “Ambassadors’ Forum” at the CSID conference featured a discussion on the steps certain Arab and Muslim governments are taking to reform and democratize. Morocco’s Ambassador to the United States Aziz Mekouar discussed recent developments in his country, in particular the formation of a new family law which he said “puts men and women on completely equal footing.” According to Mekouar, the changes were long overdue. “We have women ambassadors, entrepreneurs and ministers, yet women didn’t have the same rights as men.” However, Mekouar said, his country faces significant challenges, including a rapidly growing population: 70 percent of Morocco’s citizens are under the age of 25. The economic problems must be resolved for further reforms to take place, he concluded. Following Mekouar, Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S. Nabil Fahmy said the majority of the world, including the Middle East, has a way to go in terms of promoting democracy. He went on to say that mixing the issues of democratic reform and terrorism is a “lose-lose situation.” If the Islamic faith is questioned, “we won’t want to cooperate,” he said. The best way for the international community to help Arabs and Muslims pursue democracy is to “nurture roots that exist in the region toward democracy,” Fahmy offered. “Don’t pull fruits off before the organism develops,” he continued. Egypt has achieved a “higher level of democracy” in the past 30 years, Fahmy insisted. He recalled the days when his country only had one political party and when all the newspapers and television stations were state-run. Today, Egypt has 16 political parties and Egyptians have access to hundreds of newspapers, the Internet, and satellite television. “Free flow of information is the strongest indication of where the country is going,” Fahmy maintained. Turkish Ambassador Faruk Logoglu said his country has been working to democratize since the 1920s. The concept of secularism, one of the founding principles of the republic, is integral to democracy, he said. According to Logoglu, Turkey has “institutionalized structures of democracy,” in the form of fair elections and multiple parties. Nonetheless, “the effort and need for reform never ceases,” he remarked. While Turkey “does not consider itself a model” for other nations in the Middle East, perhaps Arab and Muslim countries can “draw lessons from its experience,” Logoglu suggested. “Our experience shows that secularism is a prime condition for genuine [democracy].” Jordanian Ambassador Karim Kawar called his country a “democracy in the making.” He pointed out that Jordanian women have “always had the right to vote and run for office.” Kawar stressed that democracy “should be homegrown” and that it is a lengthy process. “We don’t want premature democracies that can be hijacked by new dictatorships,” he said. The Arab world in general faces significant challenges, Kawar said. In addition to the need for educational reform, it is undergoing a rapid population growth. By 2020, there will be approximately 600 million people living in the 22 Arab countries (double the current population of 300 million). “With these challenges, how can we accept the status quo?” Kawar asked rhetorically. “We must have an entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to reform and take leaps of faith,” he concluded. —Laila Al-Arian |
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