On November 9 the Organization of the Islamic Conference held a one-day summit in Istanbul attended by many heads of state and government of Muslim countries. The focus of the summit debate was economic issues.
Among those present, in addition to Turkey's president, Abdallah Gul, were the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and Syria's President Bashar Assad.
In his address Ahmadinejad denounced capitalism for the global financial meltdown.
"The present economic crisis is due to the capitalist system. The world needs radical change", Ahmadinejad told the gathering.
Describing interest rates as the biggest and most fundamental problem of the capitalist system, the Iranian leader said through an interpreter: "The world system based on usury has collapsed, proving its failure.
"We have to draw up programs based on Islamic economic thinkers. That way we can guide people to happiness, security, justice and honesty". he said.
Ahmadinejad made no reference to Teheran's dispute with the West over its nuclear activities.
For his part, Assad told the gathering that Damascus' "support for the Resistance [to Israeli occupation] does not contradict or deny our desire for [Middle East] peace".
Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent years pushed for closer ties with Iran, Sudan and Syria, raising concerns that the country is turning its face to the East.
A sharp downturn in Turkey's relations with its chief regional ally Israel over last New Year's war in Gaza has further fuelled concerns over Turkey's future direction.
After a visit to Iran last month marked by the signing of bilateral partnerships on trade and energy, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan firmly denied that his country was shedding its pro-Western outlook.
Ahead of the summit, Erdogan said he doubted that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was responsible for genocide in Darfur, Erdogan indicated that he questioned the charges against Beshir of orchestrating mass killings in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region, saying in an interview on public television: "No Muslim could perpetrate a genocide", according to the Anatolia news agency.
Sudan was among the 57 states invited to the OIC summit. Sudan's leader is the subject of an international arrest warrant after being the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, has told the government it should bar or arrest the Sudanese leader.
Erdogan, head of Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling AKP party, added to the debate in the interview where he said he had personally been to the troubled Darfur region in 2006 and did not witness a genocide "as they say".
In the event Bashir did not attend the summit.
© Monday Morning 2009
