It calls itself the collective voice of the Muslim world. And ahead of a leaders summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, foreign ministers
ADVERTISEMENTIt calls itself the collective voice of the Muslim world.
And ahead of a leaders summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, foreign ministers from the 57 member states have been meeting in Istanbul. At the heart of their agenda is the civil war in Syria.
“As the Islamic world, it is time for us to stop the course of events in Syria,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said .
“We need to make every effort to bring peace to Syria. It is obvious that this change cannot be made with Assad, who oppresses his own people and triggers sectarian conflict.”
With Istanbul hit twice by suicide attacks this year, our correspondent, Bora Bayraktar, says the summit will be held amid tight security and that leaders will talk about the refugee crisis, international terrorism and civil wars.
“Many experts expect heated discussions,” he said.
Foreign Minister of #Afghanistan speaking on combating #terrorism at Foreign Ministers meeting prior to #OICSummitpic.twitter.com/NZ0qm7zdl7
— OIC (@OIC_OCI) 12 avril 2016
Widespread suffering has been caused by the civil war in Yemen – the home country of human rights campaigner Tawakkol Karman, joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.
“We are asking those taking part in the summit for clear efforts to fight tyranny, corruption and terrorism, because terrorism results from tyranny, and corruption is the consequence of a lack of democracy, human rights and development,” she told euronews.
The Palestinian conflict is also set to be a major talking point, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas among those attending the leaders’ summit which begins on Thursday.