ISTANBUL - The 31st Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Foreign Ministers` Conference started in Istanbul on Monday.
Number of participants including delegates and press members are expected to rise up to 2 thousand 300.
Many issues including Palestine, Iraq and Kashmir problems, upgrade of membership status of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), election of the new secretary general of the OIC, international terrorism, the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative will be high on agenda of the conference.
Drafts prepared by high-level officials of the member countries will be discussed both at the general assembly and at the committee meetings.
The Sixth Meeting of Neighboring Countries with Iraq will also take place under the three-day conference.
United Nations Special Envoy to Iraq Lahdar Brahimi will attend the meeting on behalf of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Annan was invited to Istanbul to attend the meeting. However, he could not attend the meeting due to his intense program.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari will represent Baghdad at the meeting.
The conference will start with opening remarks of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
Besides foreign ministers of 57 member countries to the OIC, representatives of observer countries and representatives of some international organizations will be in attendance at the conference.
Following opening remarks of President Sezer, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi of Iran and OIC Secretary General Abdelouahed Belkeziz will address the participants.
Later, Turkey will take over the OIC term presidency.
Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul will deliver a speech as the new term president.
Following the first session, family photograph of the participants will be taken.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host a banquet in honor of the participants later in the day.
Turkey has two important expectations at the OIC Conference. One of these expectations in election of new secretary general and the second is about steps to be taken about TRNC.
Turkey named Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu as its candidate for OIC secretary general.
Malaysia and Bangladesh also named their candidates for the position.
Turkey expects the OIC to take some steps to end isolation policy against TRNC.
TRNC, which attended OIC meetings as the ``Turkish Cypriot community`` with the status of observer in the past, is expected to attend the future meetings as the ``Turkish Cypriot State``.
An interesting logo was prepared for the Istanbul Conference. The logo is placed in a octagon symbolizing eternal life and heaven which is commonly used in Islam architecture. Four pylons of the Bogazici Bridge is represented with red tulips in the logo. These tulips also define minarets and balconies of mosques.
Meanwhile, Gul met with his Iranian counterpart Kharazi at breakfast.
Tight security measures have been taken in Istanbul for the conference.
(UK-AÖ) 14.06.2004