MOSCOW - Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul attended on Thursday the meeting held in Russian capital Moscow between the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Middle East Quartet formed Russia, the United States, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to discuss recent developments in Palestine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Gul, OIC Secretary General Abdelouahed Belkeziz, Senegalese Foreign Minister Tidiane Gadio, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Saat, and Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa.
Gul had earlier stated that there wasn't observer member status in OIC but OIC would review its regulations during its meeting to be held in Istanbul and launch initiatives to enable participation of Russia, where about 30 million Muslims lived, in OIC.
Turkish Foreign Minister Gul and accompanying delegation will leave Russia for Turkey after attending dinner hosted in their honor by Lavrov since Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is in Turkey.
Gul, who went to Moscow on Wednesday, told A.A correspondent, ''we consider Israel's demolishing houses of civilians in Gaza and killing of more than 30 people in its operation in Gaza an extremely dangerous development.''
Turkish Foreign Minister Gul met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow earlier in the day. After his meeting, Gul said that there had recently been worrying developments in Palestine.
Earlier in the day, Gul met with Senegalese Minister of Foreign Affairs Tidiane Gadio.
(BRC) 20.05.2004