The 51st summit of Foreign Ministers from the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) began this Saturday in Istanbul, with about 40 ministers attending, who are expected to focus on the conflict between Israel and Iran and the genocide in Gaza.

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Along those lines, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister (FM) Hakan Fidan warned that Israel’s escalating aggression could engulf the region in a “disaster,” urging Muslim nations to unite. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet with Iranian FM Abbas Araqchi in the afternoon.

The High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, and the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, will also attend the summit. Both senior officials will hold talks today with Erdogan, who will also receive the Foreign Minister of Qatar, Mohamed Al Thani, as well as the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Muhammed Ishak Dar.

The main topic expected to dominate the debates is the conflict between Israel and Iran, which was also the subject last night of an extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Arab League, held in Istanbul—a city where almost all representatives of this regional organization have gathered to participate today in the OIC summit. This meeting was closed to the press, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu.

The text reads: Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived in the Turkish city of Istanbul to meet with Arab League diplomats and discuss the escalating conflict between his country and Israel.

Araqchi has once again stated that Tehran is ready for a negotiated solution, just like in 2015, stressing that diplomacy worked in the past and can work again, but in order to return to it, the aggression must stop.

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