Turkey Lobbies For TRNC Status in OIC

Gul said on Thursday that during his bilateral talks with the leaders, he conveyed messages about TRNC and the OIC. Gul went on to say that the standpoints of the OIC members should to be put into practice. Gul said Turkey is pushing to change the current ‘observer status’ of TRNC in the OIC. He hopes that this change would be accepted during the OIC Foreign Ministers meeting that is to be held in Istanbul in June.

Meanwhile, Gul also gave a speech at the meeting. He called for an end to the ‘unjust’ isolation of TRNC. He then talked about the 2nd ‘Harmonization of Civilizations’ meeting that will be held in October in Istanbul. Turkey had initiated the ‘Harmonization of Civilizations’ meetings after the September 11 attacks.

Finally, Gul reminded his counterparts that Turkey hosted an E.U.-OIC Common Forum two years ago and that as a result of the meetings, Turkey has decided to maintain its current initiatives.