ISTANBUL
Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil al-Araby said foremost issue for the Arab world was the Palestinian one.
Delivering the opening remarks at the Fifth Meeting of the Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum at the level of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Istanbul, Nabil al-Araby stated that Palestine's gaining an 'observer' status at the United Nations would lead to new developments.
"Turkey has always supported fair Arab issues. Turkey's decisions to end the embargo on Gaza deserve appreciation," al-Araby noted.
On Syria, al-Araby said that the Arab League since the first moment made efforts to solve the problem.
"However, the Syrian regime has lost all opportunities (for a solution)," al-Araby said.
On nuclear weapons, al-Araby underlined that the Middle East had to be denuclearized.
"The Arab League is making efforts so that the Middle East is denuclearized," al-Araby noted.
Touching on attacks on the values of Islam, al-Araby stressed that the Western world conducted such attacks under the pretense of "freedom" or "expression".
"We must end the attacks on Islam by cooperating with Turkey and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)," al-Araby said.
"Economic, social and cultural relations between Turkey and Arab countries are on rise. We must act fast and establish the Turkish-Arab Business Council," al-Araby also said.
The Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum is foreseen as a platform that enables enhancement of the cooperation among Turkey and the countries of the Arab League on political, security, economic, cultural and social development issues as well as the Alliance of Civilizations Initiative. The first meeting of the Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum at the level of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs was held in Istanbul on 11 October 2008, the second meeting was in Damascus on 15 December 2009 and the third meeting was again organized in Istanbul on 9-10 June 2010. The fourth meeting was held in Rabat on 16 November 2011.
Within the scope of the meeting, current developments in the region mainly Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Palestine and disarmament issues will be addressed. Besides, joint projects which can be carried out along with bilateral and multilateral issues regarding political, economic and cultural relations will also be discussed.
