ANKARA - Foreign Ministers meeting will be held on Monday within the scope of the tenth summit of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia.
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul will represent Turkey in the meeting. After the meeting, the OIC summit in which presidents of OIC countries will participate, will be held between 16-18 October. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will go to Malaysia on October 15 to attend the meeting.
Developments about Iraq are expected to be the most important agenda of the meeting. Iraq will be represented by two members of the Iraqi governing council Muhsin Abdulhamid and Mahmud Osman, who is known as a supporter of the terrorist organization PKK/KADEK.
The Turkish side is expected to inform the participant countries about the reasons of its decision to send solders to Iraq. The summit is particularly important for Turkey as it is held after the approval of the motion on dispatch of Turkish soldiers to Iraq by the Turkish parliament.
Foreign Minister Gul will explain his counterparts that Turkey wanted to send soldiers to Iraq in order to ensure stability in the region as soon as possible.
Diplomatic sources said that President Sezer is also expected to important messages during his speech in the summit.
Foreign Minister Gul and President Sezer will also have some bilateral contacts during the summit. Gul will meet with Foreign Minister Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri of Pakistan, which is one of the Islam countries from which the U.S. asked for soldiers.
The Middle East peace process will also be evaluated during the summit. Syria is expected to urge the organization to include tough expressions condemning Israel in the final declaration after the recent attack of Israel on Syria.
Turkey is expected to ask for support regarding the issues of Turkish minority in Western Thrace and TRNC. TRNC President Rauf Denktas is expected to attend the summit as observer representing the Muslim Turkish Cypriot community and reiterate its full membership demand to the OIC.
Turkey had reacted harshly to the Cyprus report which supported Greek Cypriot views and which was submitted to the recent foreign ministers meeting by OIC Secretary General. At the end of the meeting a statement which reflected the views of Turkey was published.
(ÖS) 12.10.2003