Free trade area for the Islamic world?

At the end of a three-day World Islamic Economic Forum held under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), there has been a call for the setting up of an Islamic common market in order to boost trade and development.

Wouldn't this be a far better 'common market' for Turkey to join than the European Union? Far more appropriate to the needs of Turkey than the EU; moreover, this would be an organization in which Turkey itself could take the lead!

Does Turkey really relish giving full equal rights to Muslimahs, Muslim women? And perhaps even more shocking to the Islamic world: Does it really relish giving equal rights to Turkish homosexuals? Such equal rights to these groups will be a prerequisite of joining the EU. There would be no such demands from an Islamic free trade area.

Joining such an organization, it seems to me, would be eminently more sensible for the future of Turkey than to join the infidels of Europe!

©Mark Alexander