Saturday, April 16, 2016 
ISTANBUL: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has accused Iran of supporting terrorism and interfering in the internal affairs of regional states including Syria and Yemen.
Muslim leaders have been attending a summit of the 57-member organization to discuss a range of issues such as the humanitarian fallout from Syria’s civil war.
“The conference deplored Iran’s interference in the internal affairs of the states of the region and other member states including Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia, and its continued support for terrorism,” the OIC said in its final summit communique.
It also expressed strong condemnation of the Daesh group and the role of Iran and its proxies in regional conflicts.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who chaired the final session of the OIC summit, lamented the fact that Muslim countries who are “the heirs of a civilization that was built on columns of peace and justice are being remembered more for wars, armed conflict, sectarianism and terrorism.”
During the closing ceremony, the president said: “As Muslims, we cannot overcome our difficulties without achieving unity in spite of our differences.”
Erdogan also said that the establishment of an international arbitration body in Istanbul is part of the OIC 2025 action plan and welcomed a decision reached a day earlier to create a Turkey-based police coordination center aimed at increasing cooperation against terrorism.
The final declaration expressed hope that negotiations that started in Geneva on April 13 would contribute to resolving “the Syrian crisis as soon as possible.”
The conference pledged to combat terrorism in all its forms and condemned Daesh for its use of chemical weapons in Iraq.
It “deplored Iran’s interference” and “continued support for terrorism” not only in Syria but also Bahrain, Yemen and Somalia.
The Arab League declared Hezbollah a “terrorist” group in March after Gulf states did the same earlier in the month over the movement’s support for Assad’s regime.
There was a security lockdown around the summit venue in Istanbul.
Turkey has been on high alert following attacks claimed by Daesh and increased violence linked to the Kurdish conflict.
The summit marked one of Istanbul’s most significant gatherings of heads of state for years.
At the sidelines of the summit, Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum to create a bilateral cooperation council.