NEW YORK - Turkey became the Acting President of the Conference of Foreign Ministers of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), sources said on Friday.
After Turkish Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu was elected as the OIC Secretary General during the OIC Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Istanbul on June 14th-15th, Turkey took over the 31st presidency of the OIC Conference of Foreign Ministers from Iran.
Turkey will be the Acting President of the Conference of Foreign Ministers for one year.
Speaking in the takeover ceremony in New York, Turkey's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Umit Pamir underlined that Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer called for democracy and reform in Islamic countries during the OIC Conference of the Foreign Ministers held in Istanbul in June.
Pamir stressed that the group had gained more importance after Iraq issue and Palestinian-Israeli dispute and become a center of attraction for the international community.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will chair the OIC Foreign Ministers Coordination Committee Meeting to be held as a part of the 59th UN General Assembly in New York in the second half of September.
This meeting is expected to be held at the UN Headquarters on September 28.
The 31st OIC Conference of Foreign Ministers was held in Istanbul between June 14th and 16th.
Turkey achieved its two goals at the end of Istanbul conference, including upgrading the status of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in OIC and securing the election of a Turk as the new OIC Secretary General. Participants of the conference decided that TRNC would be represented at OIC as Turkish Cypriot State.
Secondly, Turkish nominee Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu was elected as the new OIC Secretary General.
(BRC-ULG) 02.07.2004