Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), has laid out a new vision for the organization and discussed its role in conflict resolution and combating Islamophobia. He made these remarks in a speech Thursday night at New York's Columbia University. The OIC, with 57 member states and five observer states, is the second largest inter-governmental organization in the world. It recently released a new charter that came out of discussions held in Makkah in December 2005 as a response to “new realities, such as the occupation of Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan and the painful stalemate in Palestine as well as increasing tension with the western world,” Ihsangolu said said. The new charter is a reflection of “moderation and modernization,” Ihsangolu said. “It emphasizes inter-civilizational and interfaith dialogues based on mutual respect and equality among interlocutors and rejects and condemns all forms of fanaticism, extremism, terrorism and bigotry.” --MORE
