ISTANBUL (CIHAN) - 31st Foreign Ministers Summit of the Organization for Islamic Conference is due to kick off June 14 in Istanbul.
In 3-day summit, the OIC members will vote to elect the new secretary general of the organization. Turkish candidate Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu is heavily favored to win the general secretary position.
Representatives of 56 Muslim countries is to get together to discuss the controversial issues of Islam World and especially the Middle East conflict, both Israel- Palestine conflict, Cyprus issue, Afghanistan and the reconstruction of war weary Iraq. The summit will be opened with the speech of the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The summit has 110 subject matters to be discussed.
Nearly 2300 foreign representative including international observers and journalists are expected to follow 3-day summit. The OIC Foreign Ministers summit will be test for Turkey and Turkish police ahead of the NATO Summit in end-June.
Security across Turkey is under the spotlight in the run-up to the NATO Summit which is to take place in Istanbul on June 28-29.
In summit, Turkey is expected to stress its unique place in Islam world as only Muslim secular country which reconcile the democracy and peace and bridging the East and West Civilizations.
Turkey will seek support of the Organization for Islamic Conference (IOC) to promote the representing level of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC).
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) currently has observer status at the OIC.