Since the end of the Cold War, legitimacy has no longer been sought in military occupations. With the upper hand on Russia, the United States declared itself as the sole gendarme of the new world order.

The occupation of Iraq was the litmus test proving the arbitrariness of the U.S. in the post-Cold War era. All pretexts about the Iraqi government's possession of chemical weapons could have been refuted by the members of the American Congress itself. During the Iraq occupation, President George W. Bush described the American war on Iraq as the continuation of the Crusades.

Ten years since the American occupation, Iraq is still a highly unstable country. It has lost millions of people and the oil-rich country now faces mass protests due to the rise of hunger and poverty.

By the end of the Cold War, the United Nations has, in effect, gone bankrupt. In the face of overt human rights violations, mass massacres and ethnic cleansing, the U.N. possesses no powers of sanction. When a member of the U.N. Security Council occupied Iraq, the U.N. naturally turned a blind eye to the humanitarian tragedy in Iraq.

European powers have always made use of economic and democratic pretexts in legitimizing their occupations of African and Asian countries. Thanks to their long colonial experience, they have always pretended to be exporting democracy and development to their colonies.

In their home countries, Western powers have succeeded in establishing healthy and working democratic systems. For their colonies or other non-Western countries, on the other hand, they have found human rights and democracy as a superfluous luxury.

Today, the international arena has become chaotic, arbitrary and unstable. Overshadowed by international power struggles, humanity is bleeding to death and the conscience of the world is murky.

When Muslims were being massacred in Myanmar, only Turkey raised its voice and supported their cause through diplomatic and humanitarian channels. When Somalia was grappling with hunger, Turkey took the initiative to put an end to the ongoing tragedy. In a similar vein, hundreds of thousands of Muslims now face massacre in Yemen where they have been caught in the crossfire between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Most probably, Turkey will become the main arbitrator for resolving the conflict to prevent yet another humanitarian plight in the Islamic world.

While Russia and the U.S. have currently been waging a filthy war of political influence in Syria, Turkey has, with open arms, taken in 4 million refugees. Similarly, also opposed to the power struggle between Russia and the U.S. in Iraq, we host 500,000 Iraqis in our country. Therefore, Turkey has become the sanctuary of the region.

With the support of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Israel and the U.S. pursue the most ferocious methods in oppressing and killing Palestinians. When the U.S. declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Turkey succeeded, under the leadership of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in isolating the U.S. in the U.N. by gaining the support of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

In Idlib, 3 million Muslims now face a potential massacre at the hands of the death squads of Iran, Russia and the Syrian regime. Once more, only Turkey has raised her voice to prevent the upcoming humanitarian tragedy.

Today, Turkey's humanitarian institutions provide aid to almost 100 countries. With the support of an army of volunteers, Turkey strives to reach the most secluded lands of Africa and Asia where people struggle with hunger and poverty.

It is not for nothing that the oppressed and ignored people in our region see Turkey as the last port of refuge. While Western powers solely pursue their national interests under the veil of democratic discourses, Turkey naturally becomes the true conscience of the world.