Terrorists, affiliates shall not abuse OSCE: Diplomat

By Askin Kiyagan

ANKARA (AA) - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should not be misused by terrorists and terrorist-linked organizations, a Turkish diplomat stated on Tuesday at OSCE's informal ministerial meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The meeting touched on the importance of continuation of cooperation based on OSCE’s multilateralism principals to find resolution for current global security issues, especially the problems that EU faced, Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal said.

"For some important issues, OSCE emphasized to make tangible contributions in the field," he said. "As Turkey who agreed with it, we also mentioned the importance of multilateralism," Onal added.

In his speech during the meeting, Onal said the OSCE platform should not be abused by terrorists and related structures.

The deputy minister said he witnessed the appreciation for Turkish diplomats for their contributions to OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.

"The mission has been run by Turkish diplomats for two terms," he said. "Ambassador Halit Cevik took over the task from Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, and I witnessed praises for value added by our diplomats to the task," he added.

Turkey played an active role not only in conflict prevention, easing tensions, but also in mediation in many international organizations including UN, OSCE and Organization of Islamic Cooperation, he said.

''We emphasized that xenophobia, Islamophobia, intolerance towards Muslims, Christians and minorities, and discrimination should be put on the top of OSCE's agenda," he said and added that he proposed OSCE to consider taking actions over the issues in upcoming ministerial meeting of the organization.

*Writing by Maimaitiming Yilixiati