"Slowdown On Path To E.U.
Published: 3/31/2006
BY FERAI TINC
HURRIYET- We flew from Sudan, one of the poorest and most troubled countries in Africa, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the night before. The reason for the visit to Jeddah, which was added to the program at the last minute, was the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC). Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s advisors said that for the first time a Turk, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, was the OIC’s secretary general and that Erdogan had wanted to visit him for a long time. Ihsanoglu was appointed at a time when the OIC was planning institutional reforms, and he’s actively working on the issue. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) wants to draw a new profile for Turkey firstly with this week’s Arab League summit and then with the visit to the OIC. Erdogan explained this profile to the Islamic media at a press conference at OIC headquarters yesterday as follows: ‘On the one hand, there is a Turkey which started membership talks with the European Union, and on the other, there is a Turkey which undertook the secretariat general of the OIC.’"
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