Syria regains OIC membership through initiative by Türkiye

Syria's membership in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which had been suspended for 13 years, has been reactivated after Türkiye's initiative.

According to diplomatic sources, Türkiye's initiative during the OIC Extraordinary Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jeddah paved the way for Damascus' return to OIC.

The issue of reviving Syria's OIC membership was added to the agenda of the meeting in Jeddah, which was attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

At the meeting, the draft resolution was adopted and Syria's OIC membership, which had been suspended for nearly 13 years, was revived.

Following the adoption of the resolution, Syrian Foreign Minister Assad Hassan Shaibani was invited to the meeting and took his place at the table representing Syria.

On June 24, 2012, the ministerial-level Extraordinary Executive Committee of the OIC held in Jeddah discussed the situation in Syria and made a recommendation to suspend Syria's OIC membership at a time when the violence of the Bashar al-Assad regime against its own people was increasing. Subsequently, at the 4th Extraordinary OIC Summit held in Mecca on August 14-15, 2012, Syria's OIC membership was suspended.