Leaders of Eurasian countries pose for a family photo during the two-day summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.June 9, 2010, Wednesday
Turkey addresses universal sensitivities at CICA summit
A security summit bringing together leaders of Eurasian countries as well as participants from the Middle East, South Asia and the Korean Peninsula offered Turkey an opportunity to call on the conscience of humanity to respond to the May 31 Israeli raid on an aid flotilla in the eastern Mediterranean that led to the deaths of nine peace activists.
Closing the two-day summit, Turkey yesterday took over the term presidency of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) from Kazakhstan, which has held the presidency of the forum since it was established in 1993.
Closing the two-day summit, Turkey yesterday took over the term presidency of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) from Kazakhstan, which has held the presidency of the forum since it was established in 1993.
The summit, during which Iraq and Vietnam joined as member countries and raised the number of members to 22, marked the third such summit of the forum.
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan are members of the conference. They represent a region which has throughout history seen much hostility. Decisions are made through consensus within CICA, thus the release of a strongly worded declaration which includes the condemnation of Israel at the end of the summit was unlikely because Israel, represented by its ambassador to Turkey, as expected, exerted an effort to block such wording, Turkish diplomats told Today’s Zaman.
Israel has already rejected a United Nations call for an international inquiry into its seizure of the ship, but Turkey is not giving up to keep the issue on the actual agenda of international platform, highlighting that those subjected to Israeli violence were not only Turkish citizens but activists from more than 30 countries.
Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy, who represented his country at the summit, left the meeting hall when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed participants.
“Consensus in a way means finding the least common ground. There is no voting system within CICA,” a senior Turkish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Today’s Zaman. Work on how to word the declaration was still going on when Today’s Zaman went to print Tuesday evening.
Exercises and consultations among member countries’ delegations on a draft declaration had been going on since Saturday. Turkish diplomats spoke confidently that, despite the absence of such a declaration, a presidential statement which includes a clear condemnation of Israel would be read out by President Abdullah Gül at the closing session in the evening.
Ankara believes CICA, with its goal of building security and cooperation in Asia, is similar to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and can be dubbed the “OSCE of Asia.”
“If an incident like the May 31 illegal attack had happened in, for example, Hungary, then it would be assumed that the OSCE would react appropriately to the incident. In this case, we seek CICA members’ unity in condemning the Israeli attack,” another senior Turkish diplomat told Today’s Zaman earlier.
Nonetheless, the İstanbul summit was the venue for condemning Israel in clear terms by a number of world leaders, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and, naturally, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar were among the countries that received messages in support of Turkey’s cause.
As a matter of fact, in his opening speech at yesterday’s session, which gathered the heads of state and government, President Gül actually gave hints about the wording of the presidential statement to be released at the end of the day.
The international community has a joint responsibility to not allow the repetition of wars and conflicts which led to horrible agony and devastation throughout the history in the name of providing peace, security and welfare to the next generations, Gül said.
“The results of actions motivated by feelings of hatred and taking revenge are obvious,” Gül said, in an apparent reference to Israel’s lethal raid.
“Unfortunately, we have seen and experienced outrageous examples of these a short while ago. We definitely have to rapidly say ‘stop’ to this action, which is extremely worrying in regards to international peace and security. Today, it is not possible to resolve issues by ignoring international law, by attacking human life carelessly, by using brute force,” Gül said. “That is why I sincerely believe that we should not substitute old hatreds and enmities with new ones and that we should build a joint understanding through which we can work together to live in peace, stability and welfare, ensuring the happiness of our people.”
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan are members of the conference. They represent a region which has throughout history seen much hostility. Decisions are made through consensus within CICA, thus the release of a strongly worded declaration which includes the condemnation of Israel at the end of the summit was unlikely because Israel, represented by its ambassador to Turkey, as expected, exerted an effort to block such wording, Turkish diplomats told Today’s Zaman.
Israel has already rejected a United Nations call for an international inquiry into its seizure of the ship, but Turkey is not giving up to keep the issue on the actual agenda of international platform, highlighting that those subjected to Israeli violence were not only Turkish citizens but activists from more than 30 countries.
Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy, who represented his country at the summit, left the meeting hall when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed participants.
“Consensus in a way means finding the least common ground. There is no voting system within CICA,” a senior Turkish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Today’s Zaman. Work on how to word the declaration was still going on when Today’s Zaman went to print Tuesday evening.
Exercises and consultations among member countries’ delegations on a draft declaration had been going on since Saturday. Turkish diplomats spoke confidently that, despite the absence of such a declaration, a presidential statement which includes a clear condemnation of Israel would be read out by President Abdullah Gül at the closing session in the evening.
Ankara believes CICA, with its goal of building security and cooperation in Asia, is similar to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and can be dubbed the “OSCE of Asia.”
“If an incident like the May 31 illegal attack had happened in, for example, Hungary, then it would be assumed that the OSCE would react appropriately to the incident. In this case, we seek CICA members’ unity in condemning the Israeli attack,” another senior Turkish diplomat told Today’s Zaman earlier.
Nonetheless, the İstanbul summit was the venue for condemning Israel in clear terms by a number of world leaders, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and, naturally, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar were among the countries that received messages in support of Turkey’s cause.
As a matter of fact, in his opening speech at yesterday’s session, which gathered the heads of state and government, President Gül actually gave hints about the wording of the presidential statement to be released at the end of the day.
The international community has a joint responsibility to not allow the repetition of wars and conflicts which led to horrible agony and devastation throughout the history in the name of providing peace, security and welfare to the next generations, Gül said.
“The results of actions motivated by feelings of hatred and taking revenge are obvious,” Gül said, in an apparent reference to Israel’s lethal raid.
“Unfortunately, we have seen and experienced outrageous examples of these a short while ago. We definitely have to rapidly say ‘stop’ to this action, which is extremely worrying in regards to international peace and security. Today, it is not possible to resolve issues by ignoring international law, by attacking human life carelessly, by using brute force,” Gül said. “That is why I sincerely believe that we should not substitute old hatreds and enmities with new ones and that we should build a joint understanding through which we can work together to live in peace, stability and welfare, ensuring the happiness of our people.”
