Turkey assumes new key position in OIC

OIC group meetings this week in New York and Geneva formally marked the transfer of the post from Iran to Turkey. The OIC foreign ministers meeting in Istanbul in mid-June elected Turkish candidate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu as the organization’s secretary-general.

Turkey will hold the term presidency of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers for a year. The presidency’s workload has been increasing recently as the situation in Iraq and Israeli-Palestinian conflict are becoming issues of high interest for the member countries and the entire world.

"The OIC has become a more important organization within the international community in connection with the Iraq and Palestinian issues," Ambassador Umit Pamir, Turkey’s permanent representative in the United Nations told an OIC meeting in New York.

Pursuant to Turkey assuming the term presidency of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is scheduled to chair a coordination meeting of the OIC foreign ministers in September at the U.N. headquarters in New York.