Thirty-first session of OIC Foreign Ministers – Declaration – Letter from Turkey (excerpts)

Identical letters dated 25 June 2004 from the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

  I have the honour, in my capacity as the Chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Group at the United Nations, to transmit herewith the text of the Istanbul Declaration adopted by the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers at its thirty-first session, held in Istanbul from 14 to 16 June 2004 (see annex).

  I should be grateful if you would have the text of the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda items 10, 28, 30, 37, 38, 39, 44, 46, 60, 73, 93, 95, 100, 106, 116 and 156, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Ümit Pamir 

Permanent Representative

Chairman, Organization of the Islamic Conference Group

Annex to the identical letters dated 25 June 2004 from the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

ISTANBUL DECLARATION

We, the Ministers of Foreign Afkirs and Heads of Delegation participating in the Thirty-First Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, the Session of “Progress and Global Harmony”, solemnly declare the following:

…

5. We decide to offer our immediate support to enhance the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and for their right to freedom and to the establishment of the independent and sovereign Palestinian State.

We urge the Quartet to work to stop the Israeli aggression in all its forms, secure international protection for the Palestinian people and guarantee free movement for the people and their leadership, and seek a lasting solution through the implementation of the road-map which is based on the UN Security Council resolutions 242, 338 and 1397, as well as the UN General Assembly resolution 194, principles of the Madrid Conference and the Arab Peace Initiative, which will aim to bring comprehensive peace to the region, including the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.

We have thus decided to support and closely monitor efforts towards comprehensive peace and to declare that the successful outcome of these efforts will be fully embraced by the OIC.

…

16 June, 2004