As world leaders head to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, the world is going through another period of terror, chaos and uncertainty. The current global system is rendered largely ineffective and dysfunctional by self-consuming power struggles, destructive proxy wars and misguided regional alliances. Turning this global crisis into an opportunity will take skilled leadership and a balancing act between interests, principles and values. The unexpected rise of ISIS and its brutal beheadings have rightly attracted the world's attention. ISIS is a terrorist organization born out of a set of circumstances that need to be understood properly. We cannot end terrorism only by killing terrorists. It requires a smarter and more comprehensive approach to address its root causes.ISIS, its ideology, tactics and recent advances in Iraq and Syria are a result of the failure of the international system on a number of social, political and ideological levels. The ISIS recruits from Muslim and Western countries, their differences and commonalities say much about this failure. Muslims have a big responsibility for the festering of this radical, anti-Shiite, anti-Christian and ultimately anti-Islamic ideology. No matter what Shiite sectarianism did in Iran, Iraq or Syria, there is no religious justification for killing people because of their sectarian, ethnic or religious identity. Jews and Christians living in Muslim countries are the "amanah," i.e., trust of Muslims and must be protected on both religious and human grounds.The vast majority of Muslims across the Middle East and the larger world reject ISIS's racist and terrorist ideology. But they also lament the failure of the international community, the U.N., Europe, the U.S. and powerful Arab countries to stop the bloodshed in Iraq and Syria over the last three years. Add to this the extremely fragile security situation and social tensions in Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon and you have a region wrought by civil war, coups, insurgency, internecine fighting and proxy wars. The question of foreign fighters is also a result of this failure. It will take more than a simple blame game to explain how hundreds of youth, born and raised in Europe, end up in ISIS ranks. Muslims as well as European nations need to properly analyze the reasons behind this new wave of radicalization. Political grievances, alienation, discrimination, racism, Islamophobia and a destructive Middle East politics all seem to play a role in the formation of a deeply antagonistic and divisive identity-politics.On a more specific point, one needs to ask why European countries do not stop these ISIS recruits, who are also European citizens, from going to Iraq and Syria. If the countries of origin cannot stop their own radicals and terrorists, how would they expect others to do it? Blaming others does not absolve one of her responsibilities. A number of recent reports and articles published in the U.S. media are quite telling in this regard. The claims that Turkey finances ISIS by buying its oil and that Turkey allows or sends foreign fighters to the region are all indicative of transferring responsibility to somewhere else. Based on anecdotal evidence, unidentified sources and unverifiable stories, these sloppy reports seek to put the blame on Turkey for the policy failures of others. Instead of making groundless claims, they should pay attention to what Turkey has been saying and doing since the troubles started in Iraq under Maliki and the civil war under Assad.Turkey has warned against Maliki's extremely divisive and destructive policies since 2011. But instead of listening to this warning, many supported Maliki and accused Turkey of following a "Sunni agenda." In Syria, Turkey spent nine months in 2011 to persuade Assad to carry out reforms and reconcile with the opposition. At that time, Turkey was accused of courting the Assad regime. When she exhausted all diplomatic channels, she severed relations with the regime and joined a global coalition to support the Syrian opposition. That coalition did more talking than action on the ground. The result is a bloody war and the rise of a monster called ISIS.Turkey has stopped and expelled several thousand suspected terrorists and barred many of them from entering Turkey over the last few years. It is only recently that European countries have begun to work more closely with Turkey against the flow of foreign fighters. Nevertheless, today there are more French, British, German and American fighters in Iraq and Syria than Turkish or Lebanese. Does this make these Western countries state sponsors of ISIS?In regards to the claims that Turkey does not support the fight against ISIS, one wonders if those who make this claim are interested more in PR shows and empty rhetoric than meaningful action. In both the Jeddah and Paris meetings, a large number of countries said that they will not take part in actual combat missions in Iraq and Syria. These countries include Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, Britain and others, each with its own specific reasons. Does this make them "non-allies" as well?