April 13, 2016•Update: April 19, 2016
ISTANBUL
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday proposed a body within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to solidify and institutionalize cooperation against terrorism.
“Once again, I call on the international bodies to review their approaches to terrorist organizations. It is necessary to conduct operations against terror organizations on the ground, while there should [also] be efforts to target those organizations' financial and human resources,” Erdogan said in his opening speech at the 13th Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul.
“For that, international cooperation is vital. Establishing a body that would solidify and institutionalize cooperation against terror within the OIC is the right step to take”.
Erdogan thanked member countries for helping support the establishment of the OIC’s new police cooperation and coordination center in Istanbul.
Turkey is now hosting the OIC summit for the first time since the body’s inception in 1969.
Turkey will take over the bloc’s chair for the next two years during the summit, whose theme is “Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace”.
The two-day summit is set to strengthen unity and solidarity between Muslim countries in the fight against terrorism.
Founded in 1969, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation consists of 57 member states and represents the collective voice of the Islamic world.
Saying that terror is one of the gravest problems facing the Islamic world, Erdogan decried the devastation of Afghanistan, in which hundreds of thousands Muslims were killed and millions were mistreated by al-Qaeda.
“Now Daesh, which controls certain places in Iraq and Syria and tries to get control of Libya, serves the same dirty plans. We see Boko Haram and Al Shabaab, which conduct terror attacks in Africa, in the same category. Apart from a few attacks for show, all these terror organizations oppress and harm all Muslims,” Erdogan stressed.
Erdogan maintained that these terror organizations do not represent Islam. “Our religion is a religion of peace and compromise,” Erdogan added.
During his talks, the Turkish leader also backed a Saudi-led alliance to fight terrorism, announced last December, saying that the alliance should be turned into an operational body.
Erdogan said that Islamic world should deal with terror and other crises itself instead of waiting for “other powers to intervene”.
“We need to intervene and solve [problems ourselves]. When we don’t, others intervene,” he said, adding that if the alliance becomes active, it would usher in a new era for Muslim countries.
Erdogan repeated his calls to reform the United Nations Security Council with better representation, suggesting that the world’s Muslim population has no voice on the council.
“I say, ‘The world is bigger than five [the five permanent UNSC members]’. The world has changed. That’s why the UN must be reformed. If we want a just world, that’s our right to expect [such change],” Erdogan said.
The council, which has primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, has 15 members, including five permanent members with veto power over any resolution: China, France, Britain, the U.S., and Russia.
Permanent members often use their veto to protect their interests or those of their allies, and in the past Erdogan has criticized the blocking of UN resolutions on Syria by Russia and China.
The Turkish leader also stressed that Muslims need to overcome “the instigation of sectarianism”.
“My religion is neither Sunni nor Shia. My religion is Islam,” said Erdogan.
Erdogan also called on the leaders of member countries to form a women’s conference that would meet on a regular basis in Istanbul to discuss women’s problems in their countries.
“I believe such a council is necessary, where women can discuss their problems,” Erdogan said.
The high-level meeting of Muslim leaders is also expected to discuss the situation in Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. A declaration is also expected at the end of the meeting.
