ANKARA - Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) on Saturday expressed sorrow over cancellation of OIC-EU Foreign Ministers Meeting Joint Forum envisaged to take place in Istanbul between October 4th and 5th.
OIC issued a written statement and said, ``OIC which adopts dialogue among civilizations and tries to strengthen principles of this, expresses deep sorrow over the cancellation of a meeting which is expected to improve dialogue and understanding between the two parties.``
The statement said, ``the current critical conditions in the world call all of us to encourage harmonization and tolerance values in international relations,`` stressing that, ``when positive outcomes of the first meeting held in 2002 are taken into consideration, we think that it would be a very appropriate initiative to improve understanding and cooperation among the members of the two organizations.``
The statement recalled that the name ``Turkish Cypriot State`` was included in UN Secretary General Kofi Annan`s peace plan, and accepted in 31st OIC Foreign Ministers meeting, and noted that Turkish Cypriot side attended all OIC meetings under this name since then.
The statement said it was unfortunate that this important forum, which would bring together the two big groups of the Eurasian and African countries was cancelled because of an issue that is not related.
(AY) 03.10.2004