U.N. Representative Richard Falk is calling for the creation of a world capital, and he wants it to be located in Istanbul, Turkey.
Falk, the Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton and a Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says Istanbul meets his criteria for a world capital because it is a “tourist destination,” it is “a secure and acceptable place to hold the most delicate diplomatic discussions,” and it has “gained economic and political credibility at a time when” many other states have lost it.
Falk also claims Turkey has a good blend of the religious and the secular, eschewing the pure secularism that runs rampant in many other quarters.
What Falk did not point out is the reason for Turkey’s move away from the secular. That move can be credited to the fact that Turkey is 99.8 percent Muslim and moving more and more toward the suppression of non-Muslim voices and non-Muslim viewpoints.
Yes, Turkey is a U.S. ally and a NATO member, but it is also a country that has changed dramatically over the last decade.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also very critical of Israel when it comes to Israeli and Palestinian relations. And as recently as March of this year, Erdogan urged Israel to “stop the brutal attack against Palestinians and stop the massacre and bloodshed.”
With these things understood, it seems the suggestion of a world capital in Istanbul is just one more slap at Israel and the West, even if Falk presents it as otherwise.
If Falk’s criteria for a world capital includes being a “tourist destination,” why can’t Vegas be the world’s capital? There’s something for everybody there.