OIC launches Europe mission in Brussels

BRUSSELS - Anatolia News Agency

OIC Secretary-General İhsanoğlu (R) meets with EU commission chief Manuel Barroso after an opening ceremony of the new office in Brussels. AA photo

The Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) opened yesterday a representative office in Brussels with a ceremony attended by Secretary-General Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu and EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.

The new OIC mission will be in touch with the European Parliament and the European Council to develop interfaith and intercultural dialogue as well as to fight against Islamophobia.

İhsanoğlu said the OIC’s wanted to advance relations with the EU through the new OIC mission. “We need to seriously fight against Islamophobia to further strengthen ties between the Islamic world and Europe and to eradicate the unnecessary sensitivities,” he said June 24. He also said Islam should be welcomed as a family member in Europe, not as a guest. “This is not something to be achieved in one day. But when it is be achieved in the long run, the prejudices against Islam and even Turkey’s EU membership will be eliminated,” he said.

“If Islam becomes political content, it will be a double-edged sharp knife. We saw such results in Norway, France and several places across Europe,” the secretary-general said, warning against using hateful remarks, hostility and discrimination as policy-making tools against Islam.