Gul: We Have To Act With Fresh And New Vision

TEHRAN - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday that Islamic countries should act with a fresh and new vision.
Speaking at the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) 30th Term Foreign Ministers Meeting in Tehran, Iran, Gul said that the meeting was being held during a critical period, adding that he wanted to assess the basic problems that the Islamic world was facing.
''We should try to determine the deficiencies and issues which constitute an obstacle in front of development of our countries,'' Gul said and noted that they owned a moral heritage based on peace, harmony, tolerance and kindness but they also faced strategic risks despite a number of strategic advantages and potential.
''These risks frequently had dominance over our destiny in the past. But now it is time to avoid these. The matter is how we can do it. We have to act with a fresh and new vision. This should be a vision where better management and transparency prevail, basic rights, freedom and gender equality are regarded as superior values and rude and rhetoric slogans don't have place. Consequently, we should firstly put our domestic affairs in order,'' he said.
Noting that they should start with ending ignorance and corruption and giving up wasting human, natural and material resources, Gul said that they should focus on the cause of violence, try to provide a higher standards of living for every individual and reduce unfair income distribution and difference between urban and rural areas.
Stating that economic defects and lack of rationalism in societies and ongoing political instabilities prevented complete use of resources and abilities, Gul said, ''and in most excessive situations, we find ourselves in destructive wars. Our geography which is full of conflicts has caused our economic development ability to suffer a serious weakness. Natural riches including oil revenues have been wasted and our attention has been focused on other issues instead of humanitarian development. Iraq experience is the most important example to this failure.''
''We should not avoid defining our path. We have to encourage our systems for political participation. We are pleased to see that there has been a consciousness which has been gradually increasing in our societies about this issue in the direction of covering reforms and politics and that an action has been taken to this end. This matter will be the key to development of nations' feeling of protecting their systems in which they live,'' Gul said.
Stressing that those issues should be solved before they turned into more serious crises by developing methods for solution of political problems between countries, Gul said that if meaningful steps were taken in the points he had mentioned, most meaningful and comprehensive response would be given to people who were talking about conflict of civilizations.
''In this way, the modern and peaceful message of the Islamic countries can be dominant,'' he said.
Noting that OIC could be effective in bringing peaceful messages beyond the OIC geography, Gul added that it would be very beneficial to civilizations if they set up bilateral relations.

GUL: WE ARE READY TO MAKE ACTIVE CONTRIBUTION TO MIDDLE EAST PROCESS
Gul noted that if that process was given a chance, comprehensive peace could be ensured in the Middle East.
Pointing out that Turkey had exerted great efforts to avoid war in Iraq, Gul recalled that they worked together with regional countries and OIC members and the western countries within that framework.
Gul emphasized that Iraq's national unity and territorial integrity should be protected, Iraq should co-exist with its people and neighbors in peace, and Iraq's natural resources should belong to whole Iraqi people in order to ensure full sovereignty and settle peace in Iraq.
Noting that the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council resolution no 1483 adopted on May 22, 2003 was a pleasing development, Gul stated that that decision was based on reality and compromise.
Gul said that the international community would play a constructive role in assisting rebuilding of Iraq.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) government put into implementation a package of confidence-building measures unilaterally and continued to take positive steps for normalization of relations, Gul stated.
Gul noted that Turkey encouraged that process and expressed belief that OIC members would support TRNC people.
Stating that the Muslim Turkish minority in Western Thrace should be fully granted the right to use their own language and fulfil the requirements of their own religion freely, Gul added that those two things should be totally ensured.

(BRC-MS) 28.05.2003