The D-8 Organisation summit was held in Egypt on Thursday welcoming leaders from Turkey and Iran. D-8 is a group of eight Muslim majority countries who are going to meet for the first time since Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad has been ousted.
The Cairo summit unfolded against the backdrop of continued regional instability: Gaza conflict, a fragile truce in Lebanon and growing unrest in Syria.
In his speech, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the restoration of reconciliation in Syria with a call to recover territorial integrity and unite all Syrian people. He had the hope that Syria would remain a land free from terrorism with an atmosphere where all religious and ethnic groups could live together peacefully.
This has been echoed by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who called on all nations to act collectively towards resolving the crises in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. He said this is a “religious, legal, and human duty” to alleviate suffering in those regions.
The summit was also historic for Iran-Egypt ties, as Pezeshkian became the first Iranian president to visit Egypt since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2013. The bilateral relations between the two nations have been frigid for decades, but there is a ease lately. This is partly due to recent diplomatic engagements. The recent reciprocal high-level visits of the foreign ministers from the two countries may explain how Egypt has taken up its role as a mediator on the Gaza conflict.
Erdogan’s visit to Egypt comes after an earlier trip this year where he had a discussion on economic cooperation and regional challenges with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation, formed in 1997, aims to increase cooperation between its members, including Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
As the summit came to a close, both Erdogan and Pezeshkian urged for a joint position to deal with regional crises and promote peace and development among member states.
