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The 40th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been held in Conakry, the capital of Guinea.
The Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation (ICYF-DC), which was represented at the session as the international institution of OIC, told APA that the draft resolution submitted by ICYF-DC was adopted by the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers at the session. Thereby, the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers has once again recognized the Khojaly tragedy as an act of genocide.
Elmaddin Mehdiyev, who led the ICYF-DC delegation, said that the draft resolution contains a separate paragraph dedicated to the “Justice for Khojaly” international awareness campaign initiated by Leyla Aliyeva, ICYF-DC General Coordinator for inter-cultural dialogue. According to this paragraph, the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers welcomes the “Justice for Khojaly” campaign and calls on the member states to take an active part in the campaign’s activities for achieving the recognition of this genocide act on the national and international level as a crime against humanity and make necessary efforts.
Mehdiyev added that thanks to the activities of ICYF-DC within the campaign, the Khojaly tragedy was first recognized as a crime against humanity and an act of genocide by the OIC Parliamentary Union. OIC Council of Foreign Ministers first recognized the tragedy as genocide during the 39th session in Djibouti in November, 2012. As a result of the activities, OIC heads of state summit in Cairo recognized the tragedy as a crime against humanity and act of genocide.
The resolution also welcomed the international award project “10 young Muslims able to change the world” realized by ICYF-DC and called on the member states to cooperate with ICYF-DC in this field. The award project was started during the constituent conference of the Islamic Countries Young Entrepreneurs Network (ICYEN) organized jointly by ICYF-DC and Azerbaijani government in Baku in November, 2011 and it was decided to organize the first award ceremony on the international level. The 40th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers has also entrusted ICYF-DC to organize the conference of OIC youth and sport ministers in 2014.
