Emergency OIC summit on Palestine wraps up in Istanbul

By Burcu Arik and Ali Abo Rezeg

ISTANBUL (AA) - The extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) came to an end late Friday following strong condemnations of Israeli killings of unarmed Palestinian protesters.

A news conference is expected to be held and a final declaration is set to be issued after a session chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the summit.

The session was also attended by Premier Binali Yildirim and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, as well as heads of states of Afghanistan, Guinea, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Mauritania, Sudan, Jordan and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Monday's protests in Gaza coincided with Israel's 70th anniversary -- an event Palestinians refer to as Nakba or the "Catastrophe" -- and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since the mass Gaza rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian protesters have been martyred by Israeli army gunfire.

The Istanbul summit was convened by Erdogan earlier this week to denounce the Israeli violence that martyred at least 62 Palestinians -- the youngest just 8 months old -- during mass rallies Monday in the eastern part of besieged Gaza Strip.

Prime ministers of Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan took their place in the meeting, while Uzbekistan, Algeria, and Sudan were represented at the parliamentary and senate level.

Also, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Iraq, Tunisia, Oman, Libya, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Chad, Kazakhstan, Comoros, Maldives and Tajikistan were represented at the foreign ministerial level.

Over 340 national and international accredited press members covered the meeting.

Hours before the international summit, Istanbul also hosted a mass rally under the theme "Condemning Oppression, Supporting al-Quds [Jerusalem]" in Yenikapi fairgrounds in the European side of the city.

Thousands of people attended the mass rally to show support for Palestinians.

Aside from Erdogan, Turkey's Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahceli, Grand Unity Party (BBP) Mustafa Destici, Palestinian PM, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Jordanian King Abdullah II were also present at the rally.