JEDDAH - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul met Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), on Monday and handed over Turkey`s donation to the organization worth 1 million USD.
After the meeting, Gul and Ihsanoglu held a joint press conference. Gul said that the organization had to make some reforms to meet the expectations of the Islam world, and noted, ``Islam world still has many problems, and it is our responsibility to solve these problems.``
Gul stated that the Islam world should pay more interest to the regions where humanity tragedies were experienced, especially in Africa.
On lifting of embargoes imposed on Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Gul said that the OIC was taking some steps to lift economic, political and cultural embargoes on TRNC.
On the other hand, Ihsanoglu said that Turkey was playing a role of a bridge between Islam countries and the European Union (EU).
Noting that the 32nd meeting of the foreign ministers of OIC countries would be held in Yemen at the end of June, Ihsanoglu said that Yemen would hand over the acting presidency of the OIC foreign ministers to Turkey during this meeting.
Ihsanoglu said that the OIC aimed to be more active in political matters from now on, and stated that Turkey had invited the OIC to a meeting to be held in (Turkish metropolis of) Istanbul within this month as a part of regional initiative on Iraq.
After the press conference, Gul visited Islamic Development Bank and met some officials.