Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
June 23 2006
OIC voices support for Iran
By Aida Sultanova
BAKU ~W Foreign ministers from member nations of the Organization of
the Islamic Conference said Wednesday that the dispute over Iran~Rs
nuclear program needs to be resolved through the U.N. nuclear
watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency. Tehran also has
insisted the issue should be dealt with solely within the IAEA, but
the United States and other Western countries have pushed for
possible referral to the United Nations Security Council.
In recent weeks Iran has indicated it might be is willing to
negotiate the nuclear dispute with six world powers who have offered
a package of rewards if halts uranium enrichment.
In a statement issued at the end of a three-day meeting in the
Azerbaijani capital Baku, diplomats said the Islamic organization~Rs
57 member nations had ~Sthe inalienable right~T to develop nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes.
~SWe believe that the outstanding issues between the Islamic Republic
of Iran and the IAEA should be resolved within the IAEA framework as
the sole competent authority,~T the statement said. ~SThe only way to
resolve the issue is to resume negotiations without any
preconditions.~T
Iran insists that its nuclear program is aimed at generating
electricity, but the United States and European Union suspect that it
is aimed at building weapons. Tehran is considering a Western package
of incentives, also backed by Russia and China, that calls on Iran to
suspend, not permanently halt, uranium enrichment as a condition for
the start of talks, although the negotiations are aimed at getting
Iran to agree to a long-term moratorium on such activity.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC~Rs secretary general, said the
organization also called for ridding the Middle East of all nuclear
weapons ~W a long-standing demand by many Arab states directed mainly
at Israel and its clandestine nuclear arms program. Israel neither
acknowledges nor denies having nuclear weapons.
The OIC ministers also condemned Azerbaijan’s neighbor, Armenia,
blaming it for the lingering conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ihsanoglu also criticized the media for last year’s controversy
surrounding the publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
A Danish newspaper first printed the cartoons, and other foreign
newspapers later followed, infuriating much of the Muslim world and
sparking deadly riots.
"This is impermissible. This is a crime against Islam. This is an
insult to Muslims," Ihsanoglu said.
"Freedom and responsibility should go hand-in-hand," he added.
"Irresponsible freedom is anarchy. We call on the Europeans to pay
attention to this issue."