Azerbaijan's deputy FM joins extraordinary OIC talks on Gaza in Saudi Arabia

Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Yalchin Rafiyev, is representing his country at an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

During the event, Rafiyev held an informal “on-the-move” meeting with Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Khalil, Caliber.Az reports per local media.

Khalil emphasised that participants at the meeting, taking place on August 25, are determined to engage constructively in the OIC session, with the aim of achieving an “immediate cessation of aggression in Gaza.”

OIC convened its 21st Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers to address the worsening situation in Palestine amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza.

The session, chaired by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, brings together foreign ministers and senior officials from OIC member states, alongside Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, is also participating.

The meeting follows a preparatory session at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, where Dr. Nuh Yilmaz, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, highlighted the urgency of addressing the humanitarian crisis, continuing violence in the West Bank, and deteriorating conditions in Al-Quds.

The ministers are expected to deliberate on coordinated responses to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where more than 62,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since October 2023. The campaign has left Gaza devastated and facing famine.

As the second-largest intergovernmental organization after the UN, the OIC aims to mobilize international attention and action to address the escalating crisis and violations of Palestinian rights.

By Aghakazim Guliyev