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Dear editor/ members of the list,
Assalamu Alaikum. I am forwarding from OIC website the
statement of Secretary General of the
Organization of the Islamic conference At the fourth
session of the conference of the Parliamentary union of the OIC member states
(PUOIC)
Shah Abdul Hannan
Statement of His Excellency Prof. ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic conference
At the fourth session of the conference of the Parliamentary union of the OIC member states (PUOIC)
ISTANBUL REPUBLIC OF TURKEY 12 13 APRIL 2006.
HE President of the Republic of Turkey, HE President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, HE Prime Minister, HE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, HE Secretary General of Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States, Excellencies, Dear Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an immense honour for me to address this distinguished and unique gathering of the representatives of the peoples of the OIC Member States.
At the outset, I would like to express my appreciation to the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the General Secretariat of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States for hosting and organizing this important meeting in this beautiful and historic city of Istanbul, which presided over the destiny of the Muslim world for many centuries.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I believe that there is a historical dimension and importance that this meeting is taking place in Istanbul, as the first elected parliament in the Islamic world, Meclis-i Mebusan, was convened in this city in 1876.
This historical fact pertinently supports our argument that the Islamic world has never faced any inherited normative problem in adopting modern-democratic principles and institutions.
Today, after 130 years, doesn`t it sound quite hollow and meaningless to claim, as some do, that Islam is incompatible with democracy?
Excellencies,
Legislative power is a basic pillar of any credible state system upholding the principles of empowerment of people and good governance. In this regard, the OIC has always attached great interest to the Member States parliaments, as they play a prominent role and authority in preparing the groundwork for the management of the affairs of the states.
The representatives of the people are the custodians of the will of any given nation, and the _expression_ of its sovereignty. They are the authority that enacts the law of the land.
The OIC was immensely pleased when the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States was established a few years ago. The OIC found in the Union an important forum which can fortify the ranks of the institutions of the Muslim world by introducing a new dimension to the joint actions and cooperation. I hope that the Union will soon complete developing its structures to become an effective partner in shouldering heavy responsibilities given the critical phase which the Muslim world is going through.
I believe that it is incumbent upon our two institutions to coordinate their activities in a manner to gain the optimal advantage. It is in this spirit that we look forward to engage with you in discussions aiming at exploring all possibilities to combine and complement our endeavours.
As you all know, today the Muslim world is faced with grave political, socio-economic, cultural and scientific challenges. Our peace, security and welfare depend on our collective response to these challenges. The OIC Member States would need to cooperate decisively and take necessary initiatives to overcome them.
It has therefore become imperative for all of us to take joint actions based on common values and ideals so as to revive our pioneering role as a fine example of tolerance and enlightened moderation, and a force for international peace and harmony.
The OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action which was prepared to meet all these challenges and adopted few months ago, at the historical Third Extraordinary Islamic Summit held in Makkah Al-Mukarramah last December, contains many provisions entrusted to the OIC Member States to implement.
The Unions role in encouraging and enhancing the implementation of the OIC Ten Year Programme of Action, through adopting measures or enacting legislations is of crucial importance.
In this Programme which has drawn a path of progress and redefined the meaning of solidarity, there are provisions, among others, concerning good governance, respecting human rights, economic and social development, elimination of illiteracy, poverty and diseases, combating terrorism and propagating moderation and tolerance. All those are areas where the Unions contribution is essential through adopting adequate legislations or ratifying agreements and conventions, and approving different measures.
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your agenda contains important political, economic and cultural issues. I will try to share with you few thoughts concerning some of them. I will start with an issue which commanded the attention of the international community for more than a half of a century, which is the question of Palestine.
The suffering of the Palestinian people continues unabated. While we salute and welcome the Palestinian people for organizing a genuine and fair election, and for constituting a new government representing the will of the Palestinian people, we also call on all interested parties to lend their moral and material support to the new Palestinian government.
We also express our rejection to the unilateral approach which is being advocated by the Israeli leadership, and condemn the Israeli measures which aim to impose sanctions on the Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank, and invite the European Union and other interested parties to continue to provide assistance to the Palestinian government.
We firmly believe that a final solution to the Palestinian question can be reached only through genuine and equitable negotiations with the representatives of the Palestinian people on the basis of the recognition of their legitimate rights to self-determination, and to establish their own state, on their own land, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
The instability and insecurity in Iraq is an extremely preoccupying issue, which is threatening to drive the country into a civil war. The sectarian atrocities should be stopped and the unjustifiable militia horror should be duly contained.
We strongly urge all the Iraqi factions to join their ranks to agree on a government of national unity, which genuinely represents the whole spectrum of the Iraqi people, as a prelude to forge ahead with the current political process and allow Iraq to retain its national and territorial unity and regain its full sovereignty.
Excellencies,
I would also like to touch upon the joint endeavours or the OIC member states in the economic field. We believe that economic solidarity among Member States is the ideal way to cement and consolidate the ties among member states.
What calls for optimism, in this connection, is that the Framework Agreement on Trade Preferential System had entered into force, and opened a new horizon for the intra-OIC trade, thanks to the efforts put in by COMCEC, which is one of the most successful organs of the OIC system.
I hope that when all the OIC Agreements and Protocols in the economic and trade fields are duly signed and ratified by all the Member States, intra-OIC economic and commercial relations will be given a considerable boost.
As a last point, I would like to share my views on the much talked about dialogue initiatives among civilizations, religions and cultures.
I believe that the recent horrific caricature crisis, which erupted after the publication by a Danish newspaper of defamatory caricatures of our Prophet (pbuh), showed us clearly that there is something wrong or missing in the content and format of the existing dialogue attempts. This ugly incident and its ensuing ramifications underlined the importance of political engagement and media undertakings, as the two crucial components for the success of any dialogue attempt.
The OIC General Secretariat is committed to exert every effort possible, in cooperation with the international community to create the necessary international ground to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents and to stem the rising trend of Islamophobia in the West.
In this respect, we are inviting you all to join our ongoing efforts in the field of combating Islamophobia by approaching your counter parts in the West and beyond, with the aim of defending the interests of the Muslim world, presenting the true image of Islam and combating the stereotype perceptions about Islam and Muslims.
Finally, our objective from all that have been said is to try to combine and coordinate the efforts of the Muslim world, with the aim of enhancing the joint actions, developing our societies, bridging the gap with the developed nations in science and technology, jointly participating in building a world of peace, harmony and concord, gaining justice for our legitimate causes, correcting the distorted image of Islam, and uprooting terrorism and extremism.
Thank you for your attention.
*************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
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