‘It is not Right to Resort to Violence on Behalf of Islam’

Stating that they give so much importance to the D-8 summit, which was started and carried on in this context, Sezer said the D-8 formation is different since it suggests peace instead of struggle, dialogue instead of conflict, cooperation instead of dependency, democracy instead of oppression. Saying that the D-8 has rich natural sources and a dynamic population of more than 800 million, Sezer noted that the organization could not benefit from its potential effectively. Pointing out that member countries have some expectations regarding the effectiveness of D-8, Sezer said the necessary steps should be taken in order to provide this.

At the opening of the summit, Iranian president Hatemi pointed out that injustice in the member countries grew gradually until 16 percent of the population used 80 percent of the income and more than 1 billion people had to subsist on US$1 per day.

‘Your Security is Our Security’

Noting that the D-8 summit gathered despite a compelling single sidedness and in an environment where progress could be provided, Khatemi stated that countries struggling against common threats and existing in the same geo-political environments need to engage in a confederation. When asked why Iran doesn’t recognize the outlawed terrorist organization Kurdish Workers’ Party – Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (PKK- KADEK) as a terrorist organization, Khatemi replied: "We condemn the terrorist attacks wherever they occur. We can never let anyone interfere in terrorist attacks in our friend country Turkey via Iran."

In the closing part of the summit, the research to be made in order to improve cooperation and coordination among the member countries was emphasized. The D-8 organization that includes Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Nigeria will gather in Indonesia for the next summit.