Turkey’s attempt to push through OIC decisions promoting its positions on the Cyprus issue and the so-called “Turkish” minority of Thrace and the “Turkish” community of the Dodecanese provoked reactions from a group of significant Arab countries — Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Bahrain — during the Organization’s meeting last weekend in Istanbul, attended by T. Erdoğan and H. Fidan.

As reflected in the OIC decisions, the delegations of Egypt and Bahrain expressed reservations regarding paragraph 24 of the Istanbul Declaration concerning Turkish Cypriots and paragraph 25 regarding the “Turkish” Muslim minority in Western Thrace and the Muslim population of the Dodecanese in Greece.

Paragraph 24 specifically states:
“We support the aspirations of the Muslim Turkish Cypriots to secure their inherent rights and emphasize the importance of a negotiated, mutually acceptable, just, lasting, and sustainable solution to the Cyprus issue, as well as the need to develop contacts with the Muslim Turkish Cypriots to overcome the unjust isolation imposed on them.”

Paragraph 25 concerns the Muslim minority of Thrace and the Muslims of the Dodecanese and states:
“We reaffirm our support for the Turkish Muslim minority of Western Thrace and the Turkish Muslim population of the Dodecanese in Greece for the full enjoyment of their fundamental rights and freedoms and declare that their religious and cultural rights should be fully respected.”

However, Turkey’s attempt to have the OIC adopt resolutions on Cyprus and on the “Status of the Turkish Muslim Minority in Western Thrace and the Muslim population in the Dodecanese” was met with formal reservations from the delegations of Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Bahrain. These countries expressed reservations about Resolution No. 3/51 regarding the “Turkish Muslim minority in Western Thrace and the Muslim population of the Dodecanese,” which presents a completely misleading and critical image of Greece regarding the Muslim minority and calls on Greece:

• to ensure full respect for all human rights, including religious freedom, for all Muslims in the country,
• to take appropriate measures to safeguard the basic rights, freedoms, and identity of the Turkish Muslim minority in accordance with international and bilateral agreements,
• to recognize the elected Muftis of Xanthi and Komotini as official Muftis,
• to question the appointment of the 240 imams/religious instructors,
• to implement the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings regarding the NGOs of the Turkish Muslim minority,
• to address the educational issues of the minority,

and requests the OIC Secretary-General to initiate an investigation into the matters mentioned in this resolution and submit a relevant report at the 52nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

The resolution concerning Cyprus called, among other things, on the international community and OIC members:

• to take measures to end the “isolation of the Muslim Turkish Cypriots,”
• to enhance effective solidarity with the Muslim Turkish Cypriots by cooperating closely with them to provide material and political assistance to overcome the inhumane isolation imposed on them,
• to exchange business delegations with the pseudo-state,
• to develop cultural relations and sports contacts,
• and to support, until the Cyprus issue is resolved, the legitimate request of the Muslim Turkish Cypriots to have a voice in all international forums where the Cyprus issue is discussed, on the basis of equality between the two sides in Cyprus.

It also called for support for the free movement of Turkish Cypriots in OIC states.

This development at the OIC, particularly at the Istanbul summit, did not happen by chance, as Athens and Nicosia have systematically worked in recent years so that friendly Arab and Muslim countries would understand Turkey’s attempt to instrumentalize the OIC to promote its claims against Cyprus and Greece — in a way that ultimately harms the excellent relations of Arab and Muslim countries with Greece and Cyprus, and naturally with the EU itself.