MECCA
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has said that Syria should not get into a chaos and "the membership of Syria to the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been suspended."
Turkish President Abdullah Gul came together with journalists after the 4th extraordinary summit meeting of the OIC and assessed the summit.
Gul said that the conference reached its aim and pointed, "All the leaders agreed over stopping the bloodshed in Syria. They all stated individually as if they all agreed that the transitional period of Syria should take start."
He said that they also discussed the issues in Myanmar and they decided to set up a contact group. Gul added that Palestine issue was one of the permanent topics of OIC.
Gul said that he touched on Syrian problem at the summit and said, "I explained that Syria should not get into a chaos and it should keep its territorial integrity. The membership of Syria to the OIC has been suspended. When Afghanistan was occupied by Soviets, the same decision had run. By carrying this forward, we know that the Syrian government is now illegitimate."
Turkish president said that until foundation of a legitimate regime in Syria, country's membership to OIC will be suspended and they will not be invited to any OIC activity or meeting. He added that it is important for Islam world to show its attitude against Syria.
President Gul stressed that for Syrian membership to the OIC to be suspended, Iranian minister had different opinions however they did not take that as a problem and said that Iran let everybody know about their position and they did not make the decision a matter of subject.
Gul stated that they are working on making OIC Economic and Commercial Cooperation Permanent Committee (ISEDAK) be more corporate and said that they agreed on a new decision at the summit about ISEDAK. He said that they adopted the strategy document which was prepared by Turkey to further increase and consolidate their cooperation.
President Gul mentioned that other OIC countries' points of view about Turkey were different and added, "When I listened to other presidents and delegations' speeches today, I realized that everybody was mentioning Turkey positively. This is important for Turkey to find its position in the Islamic world. We were appreciated by many member countries with our sensibility to the issues in Africa and in Islamic world. It is a very pleasing development for Turkey. They all thanked the host country, Saudi Arabia, but I did not hear name of any other country who received gratitude except Turkey, which made us proud."
He stated that the Syria issue is a very serious one and some leaders expressed their opinions about Syria during speeches and some expressed at the bilateral talks and stressed, "We tried a lot for Syria to avoid a chaos. The regime is illegitimate now. If the situation in Syria worsens then the regime definitely collapses however it is followed by a chaos. If it takes too long then there will be grudge. We do not want to see such things happen."
Gul stated that the leaders of the islamic countries agreed over the idea of a system which will not let a chaotic atmosphere nor domestic struggles.
President Gul also added they will step in in case of any threat from the PKK extensions in Syria.
Gul replied a question over the claims about Syrian supply of guns to PKK, he said that such a thing is very likely to happen.
Iran feels uneasy over Syria's rearrangement
Gul has said that Iran felt uneasy over arrangement of a new order in Syria.
President Gul said that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had not expressed his thoughts over Syria crisis while he was speaking at the summit, adding that Ahmadninejad also had no suggestion over the issue.
Mentioning the rising tension between Turkey and Iran after high level Iranian officials' statements over Turkey that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were responsible for bloodshed in Syria, Gul said, "Turkey is a friend of Iran, and supports Iran."
Gul stated that they had been acting in line with policies and principles over Iran issue, adding that diplomatic peaceful way was a way that is beneficial for everybody, particulary for Turkey.
Drawing attention to sectarian tensions in the Islamic world, Gul stated that Islamic world was not being allowed to face what Europe experienced during the Middle Age.
"Today I told about it to several presidents, including Iran's President Ahmadinejad. Over these issues, we are not acting as sectarian motivated. Saddam Hussein was a Sunni. Dictators can be Shiite or Sunni. Gaddafi was a Sunni. Iraq is the typical example for it. Half of the Iraq's public is Sunni and another half is Shiite. If there was a sympathetic looking to a Sunni dictator, we would be in a great mistake. Whoever performs cruelty, inhumanity and whoever administrates his country in a way that cannot be acceptable under today's conditions, we are against them. That person could be Shiite or Sunni," said Gul.
