Minister Ertuğruloğlu participates in OIC 51st Session of Foreign Ministers Council
Minister of Foreign Affairs Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu participated in the 51st session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in İstanbul on June 21-22.
Minister Ertuğruloğlu delivered a speech at the two-day event, held under the theme of “The OIC in a Transforming World”.
In his address, Minister Ertuğruloğlu stated that the member states and the international community must urgently take decisive measures to halt Israel in order to end the ongoing massacre that has persisted for over 20 months, and resulted in the deaths of more than 55,000 Palestinians.
The Turkish Cypriot people, who have endured similar attacks and suffering in the past, deeply empathize with the pain of their Palestinian brothers and sisters. They firmly believe that a lasting solution to the long-standing Palestinian problem can only be achieved through acknowledge of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state based on the principle of two states.
The Minister further stated that the recent US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities have exacerbated the already unstable security environment in the Middle East, caused by Israel’s ongoing attacks, to a degree that could potentially yield to global repercussions.
Minister Ertuğruloğlu stated that the reason for the failure to reach a compromise on the Cyprus issue is not due to a lack of negotiations, as claimed by some quarters, but rather stems from the persistent refusal of the international community to recognise the Turkish Cypriot side as an equal partner and as a sovereign state with equal international status. The Minister further emphasised that a lasting and sustainable settlement on the island can only be achieved by acknowledging the existing reality of two states and that reaffirming the sovereign equality and equal international status of the parties, ways of cooperation between the two states could be sought.
Minister Ertuğruloğlu recalled the appeal made by the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to the international community at the 77th UN General Assembly and reiterated in the subsequent years, to recognise the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and to establish diplomatic, political and economic relations, and stated that we expect the member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to take concrete steps in line with this call.
On the margins of the meeting, Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu held bilateral meetings with the Foreign Ministers of several member states. He also attended the award ceremony organised by the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum at Haliç University, where the President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was honoured with the IIGF Grand Youth Award.
Minister Ertuğruloğlu was accompanied by Director/Representative Mustafa Davulcu, TRNC Consul General in İstanbul Erek Çağatay and Third Secretaries Begüm Tuncalı and İsmail Bayramoğlu.
