13th OIC summit begins in Istanbul

The 13th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has kicked off in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Wednesday morning.

Turkey is hosting a two-day summit of heads of state and government from Muslim-majority states, as Turkey prepares to take over the two-year rotating presidency of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Leaders and senior officials from the 56 OIC member states are in Istanbul to attend the 13th OIC Summit.

The OIC summit is being held under the theme, “Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace.”

The Afghanistan Executive Office will discuss the issue of Islamic countries cooperation for bringing peace to Afghanistan.

“Combating terrorism is one of the essential issues that we are focusing on it,” Jawid Faisal, deputy spokesman of Executive Office said.

Faisal noted that the executive officer stresses that the war in Afghanistan is not internally but is a proxy war, same as other Islamic countries.

“We want to bring peace in Afghanistan but the region’s efforts are needed in this term,” Faisal added.

Turkish president also said that terror was one of the gravest problems facing the Islamic world, Erdoğan decried the devastation in Afghanistan, where hundreds of thousands Muslims were killed and millions of others were mistreated by al-Qaeda.       

“Now Daesh, [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – ISIL] which controls certain places in Iraq and Syria and tries to get control of Libya, serves the same dirty plans. We see Boko Haram and al-Shabaab, which conduct terror attacks in Africa, in the same category. Apart from a few attacks for show, all these terror organizations oppress and harm all Muslims,” Erdoğan stressed. 

Turkish president also stressed that Muslims need to overcome “the instigation of sectarianism.”       

“My religion is neither Sunni nor Shia. My religion is Islam,” said Erdoğan.

The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations which has 57 member states spread over four continents.

The OIC rotating presidency was transferred to Turkey from Egypt on Wednesday.