Spain to suspend 'Alliance of Civilizations' activity: Report

ISTANBUL

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy waves after a meeting in Athens. AFP photo

Spain will reportedly suspend its activities in the “Alliance of Civilizations,” jointly launched by Turkey and Spain in 2005.

The Spanish government has issued an order to not to give importance to the meetings, Doğan News Agency reported, arguing that the initiative” has lost its significance.”

According to the report, the alliance was also removed from the National Security Strategy Document, under pressure from the ruling party lawmakers who argue that it would wrong to mention alliance “at a time jihadist terrorize Europe.”

The Alliance of Civilizations was launched in 2005 by the prime ministers of Turkey and Spain, and later adopted by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to become a U.N. initiative and referred to as the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC).

In 2013, Spain had also quit its position as the co-sponsor of the “Alliance of Civilizations” initiative, an initiative proposed by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero during the 59th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2005.

The same report also claimed that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wants to cancel the 6th Turkey-Spain Intergovernmental Summit, which is scheduled to be held this year. Rajoy is in an election year and wants to make time to meet his voters instead, according to the report.