Rabat: 21/03/2019

ISESCO to participate in emergency meeting in Istanbul to discuss terrorist attack on two mosques in south New Zealand

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) will participate in the Open-Ended Emergency Meeting of the Executive Committee at the level of the ministers of foreign affairs to discuss the terrorist attack that targeted two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 March 2019.  The Meeting will be held by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, on 22 March 2019, at the request of the Republic of Turkey, Chair of the OIC Islamic Summit and of the Executive Committee.

The meeting will bring together members of the OIC Executive Committee which is composed of the Islamic Summit Troika (Turkey, Egypt and the Gambia), OIC Foreign Council Troika (United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Niger and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and representatives of organizations concerned.

ISESCO is represented in this meeting by Dr Aizhan Smailova, Programme Specialist at the Directorate of External Relations and Cooperation.

For the record, ISESCO issued on 15 March 2019 a statement wherein it severely condemns the terrorist attack perpetrated by an Australian right-wing extremist by shooting at two mosques during Friday prayer in Christchurch, south New Zealand; calls for solidarity with New Zealand Muslims; and expressed its confidence in New Zealand authorities’ measures to punish terrorists and protect Muslims and their mosques on its territory. Moreover, ISESCO Director General, Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, issued on 17 March 2019 a statement in which he warned against rising extremism and hate speech against Muslims and called on the United Nations to proclaim 15 March, the date of the sinister terrorist massacre, an international day for the fight against all forms and manifestations of Islamophobia.