The 51st session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was held in Istanbul on Saturday and Sunday. The two-day event, held under the theme of "The OIC In A Transforming World," was a display of unity for the world’s largest Muslim organization as Türkiye took over the rotating chairpersonship of the Council of Foreign Ministers.
The pressing issues the Muslim world is facing were naturally on the agenda of the meeting that continued amid Israel’s attacks on Iran and Iran’s response. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was among the diplomats closely watched by journalists covering the event, while diplomats’ focus was also on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza, something Türkiye repeatedly called on the world not to forget amid escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.
Iran requested a special session at the summit. The closed-to-press session late Saturday focused on Israeli attacks on the country, media outlets reported. Similarly, ministers of OIC member states that are also members of the Arab League held a one-hour meeting on the sidelines of the summit to discuss developments in the Iran-Israel conflict.
Araghchi was later received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the summit. At the meeting, Erdoğan expressed that Israel "must be stopped immediately" and said the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme must be resolved at the negotiating table, according to a statement by the Turkish Presidency. Türkiye is ready to play its part, for example, by facilitating dialogue, the president said. He told Araghchi that immediate steps should be taken to resume diplomacy between Iran and the United States, and that Türkiye would continue to support this process. At the OIC meeting, Erdoğan previously accused the Israeli government of being the "primary obstacle to regional peace" and stressed that Iran had a legitimate right to self-defense.
More than half of the OIC member countries are located in the Middle East or in its close vicinity, standing to be affected by ongoing conflicts directly.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of leading the Middle East toward "total disaster" by attacking Iran on June 13.
"Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbor," Fidan told the summit. "There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem, but there is clearly an Israeli problem," he said. He called for an end to the "unlimited aggression" against Iran. "We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardize regional and global security," he added.
The OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to "safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony."
The summit brought together top diplomats from nearly 50 Muslim-majority countries amid mounting global concern over Israel’s military operations in Gaza and what leaders described as a failure by the international community to protect Palestinian civilians.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the summit on its opening day, emphasizing the need for Muslim nations to stand united against what he called “barbaric and inhumane” attacks on Palestinians. “The Islamic world must raise its voice louder against injustice,” Erdoğan said. “We can no longer tolerate double standards in international politics.”
OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha echoed calls for international accountability and said the organization stands firmly behind the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. “What we are witnessing in Gaza is not just a political issue; it is a human tragedy that requires urgent action,” Taha said.
In addition to the Gaza conflict, ministers addressed growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the West, particularly in Europe and North America. The summit also touched on economic cooperation, climate change, and regional stability. Delegates reaffirmed the OIC’s commitment to sustainable development and voiced support for conflict resolution efforts in Sudan, Yemen, and Afghanistan.
Ministers, including Fidan, held bilateral talks on the margins of the summit. The summit also hosted representatives of other international bodies and agencies, including Miguel Angel Moratinos, high representative of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations, as well as Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Overall, some 1,000 people attended the event.
Türkiye is among the founding members of the OIC and hosts eight subsidiaries of the organization. Since 1976, it has hosted three Council of Foreign Ministers meetings. The country was also the first to open a permanent OIC representation office in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah in 2015, and one year later, it hosted a heads of state summit.
