ISTANBUL: Parliamentarians from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states met here yesterday to seek joint action in support of the Palestinians facing a deadly Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Erol Kilic, the Turkish secretary-general of the OIC’s parliamentary assembly, urged a joint appeal encouraging Muslim nations to back the Palestinians, pursue Israel before international tribunals and seek compensation for “the immense destruction and loss of human life.”
He also suggested that a delegation of OIC parliamentarians travel to Gaza to demonstrate support for the Palestinians and coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid.
Iranian Assembly Speaker Ali Larijani condemned the “crime against humanity” committed by Israel and said it must “pay the price” for its actions and called on Muslim countries to sever ties with the Jewish state.
Larijani remained noncommittal when asked about a possible Iranian call for sanctions against companies doing business with Israel: “There are of course some suggestions and we also have some,” he said.
Meanwhile, Turkish and Iranian artillery have pounded Kurdish rebel positions in Iraq’s northern mountains for the past two days, a spokesman for the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said yesterday.
“Yesterday and today, the villages of Rizka, Maradu and Kanira — close to the Iranian border — were periodically bombarded by the Iranians,” the spokesman Ahmed Denis told AFP. “Turkish artillery shelled the Sidikan district, near where the Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish borders meet, but inside Iraq,” he added. He had no immediate word on casualties.
PKK rear-bases in border districts of northern Iraq have been the target of repeated attack by the Turkish and Iranian militaries in recent weeks. Blacklisted as a terror group by the European Union and the United States, the PKK took up arms for self-rule in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, triggering a conflict that has claimed some 44,000 lives. An Iranian rebel group, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), operates out of bases in the same area and is close to the PKK.
In an unrelated development, Turkey’s first full-time European Union negotiator outlined on Tuesday his country’s determination to join the bloc but said Brussels must match this resolve and treat Turkey like other candidates.
Newly appointed Egemen Bagis joins Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on a trip to Brussels next week at the start of a decisive year for Turkey’s membership bid, as Ankara faces EU pressure to speed up reforms and questions over it commitment.
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, began EU accession talks in 2005 but has made slow progress due to internal divisions, dwindling enthusiasm for the bloc at home and a lack of appetite for further enlargement among EU states.
