May - August 2009, No. 79 OIC RESEARCH CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC HISTORY, ART AND CULTURE The Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC Member States held its thirty-sixth session, in Damascus Ircica Activities Co-organisation of events in commemoration of “Baku – capital of Islamic culture 2009” UNESCO World Heritage Centre and IRCICA sign Cooperation Agreement “Al-Quds during the Ottoman Era” congress held in Damascus First International Congress for Urban Heritage in Islamic Countries to take place in Riyadh, 2010 Book Survey Newsletter Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) In this issue May - August 2009, No. 79 The Newsletter is published quarterly: Three issues in the official 2 languages of the OIC (English, French, Arabic) and one in Turkish The Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC Member States held its thirty-sixth session, in Damascus Publisher Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), Organisation of the Islamic Conference 8 Editor in Chief Ircica Activities Halit Eren Co-organisation of events in commemoration of “Baku – capital of Islamic culture 2009” Editorial Board Zeynep Durukal UNESCO World Heritage Centre and IRCICA sign Mohammed Tamimi Cooperation Agreement Semiramis Çavuşoğlu Mihin Lugal “Al-Quds during the Ottoman Era” Fayçal Benaissa congress held in Damascus First International Congress for Urban Heritage in Islamic Countries to take place in Riyadh, 2010 Visits, Meetings and Cooperation Address Yıldız Sarayı, Seyir Köşkü Barbaros Bulvarı, Beşiktas 34349 16 İstanbul, Turkey Book Survey Tel. (90 212) 259 17 42 Fax (90 212) 258 43 65 18 www.ircica.org Ircica Publications [email protected] Graphic Design Said Kasımoğlu Editorial he Foreign Ministers of the OIC Member States Quds, presented in this issue, has been published on Tmet in Damascus on their thirty-sixth annual this occasion. This publication is significant in that it session last May. The expansion achieved in the underscores once again the central importance of Al- overall OIC agenda during the last three years - in Quds and Palestine for the OIC and IRCICA as an conformity with the Ten-Year Programme of Action expression of the special place they hold in the hearts adopted in the Makkah Summit of December 2005 - of all Muslims. was reflected in the proceedings of the conference and At the same time, IRCICA completes thirty years of in the numerous resolutions taken in various fields. activities this year with many achievements on its Cultural issues covered within the framework of this record. It is conducting numerous programs in various agenda have also seen a noticeable expansion, with the fields of Islamic culture and civilisation. It continues addition of new fields and strategies of action - some to plan its activities in a way to meet the changing of universal dimension, relating to such objectives as requirements of an international environment promotion of inter-cultural and inter-faith relations, where cultural subjects matter more than before. At dialogue of civilisations, projecting the true image of present, simultaneously with growing exchanges in Islam and its civilisation, combating the phenomenon trade, finance and economy around the globe, new of “Islamophobia”, among others, together with issues relationships are established and new channels of relating to the preservation of cultural heritage. All exchanges activated in various fields of culture, science of these subjects come, to varying extents, also under and education. In this climate, the task of IRCICA as the areas of interest of the OIC’s cultural subsidiary a promoter of cultural studies at inter-civilisational IRCICA. As a natural consequence of the above, our level acquire growing importance. We are also aware Centre’s activities have seen a parallel expansion with of the need to innovate and to develop our programs the various projects undertaken in its different fields continuously, with an eye to keep pace with changes of activities. and advancements in the cultural environment in OIC These developments are most rewarding, especially Member States and around the world. in the present time as the OIC celebrates its fourtieth I would like to take this opportunity to thank the readers anniversary. This year OIC institutions are participating of the Newsletter for the interest they have shown to in the commemoration of this anniversary with this publication. Special thanks and appreciation are special activities. IRCICA for its part undertook due to those who contributed to it by sending us news several activities, most notably, it dedicated to it one on cultural events and activities. of the most distinguished publications of its history: the annotated album of historical photographs of Al- Dr. Halit Eren The Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC Member States held its Thirty-sixth Session (Damascus, May 2009) he 36th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers General said he was honoured to be given the opportunity to T(CFM) of the OIC Member States (“Session of continue to work in this important post in order to make every Enhancing Islamic Solidarity”) was held on 22-25 May 2009 effort to serve the Member States and the Islamic Ummah in Damascus, capital of the Syrian Arab Republic. and to advance its glory and progress, being fully aware of the tremendous responsibility placed upon their shoulders. H.E. Dr. Bashar Assad, President of the Syrian Arab The Secretary General said “The past four years have been an Republic, delivered an address pointing out that the past opportunity for us to test our capacity to achieve, to progress, few years had been rife with significant political and and to get the world to listen to our views. ….. Our actions economic developments that impacted and destabilized have spoken louder than our words, and our efforts have been the world. Muslim countries, he continued, have been acknowledged internally and our voice heard and respected frontally confronted, either as a party or as a target, with the externally. We have thus made a quantum leap that has lifted ramifications of these developments. He added that these the Organisation from an organization whose sole exercise developments have been associated with a hectic campaign was to stage conferences and issue recommendations, to against Islam, seeking to tarnish its image as the cultural and one with high interactive and ramified links and contacts religious reference of our peoples. The campaign targeted with impactful regional and international organisations Muslims, too, in a bid to isolate and discredit them. President and governments and with civil society institutions.” Assad explained that it is natural that such a situation fills Prof. İhsanoğlu said that taking into consideration the Muslims with deep feelings of frustration as they face up to developments of international politics and the shift which successive crises and as they see their own helplessness in took place in the balance of power among influential states in the face of recurrent abuses of their religious and cultural the past decade, the role of the Islamic world was not what it symbols and the continuous onslaughts on their sovereignty. should be, taking into account its huge demographic weight, President Assad emphasized the need to face up to any attempt wide surface, strategic location, tremendous capacities, seeking to violate the sovereignty of the Muslim world or potentials and natural resources. Following a recapitulation transgress its independence. He stressed that independence of major developments and shifts of power balances in the starts by confronting the challenges imposed on the Muslim world over the past decades, Prof. İhsanoğlu recalled that world and working out the proper solutions that would best the Ten-Year Programme of Action had managed to set up serve the interests of the OIC Member States. This approach, a conception of a unified and mutually supportive Islamic he explained, does not imply any isolationist stand when it world capable of facing up the challenges: “We have indeed comes to cooperating with others. (The addresses delivered started implementing the provisions of this program, with the and resolutions and documents adopted by the session can General Secretariat having on its part carried through most of be found at http://www.oic-oci.org/36cfm) what was requested of it in terms of institutional action, such H.E. Mr. Sam Kutesa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the as amending the Charter, introducing substantive reforms Republic of Uganda and Chairman of the 35th CFM (held on a number of OIC institutions, foremost of which the in Kampala, 18-20 June 2008) highlighted the activities and International Islamic Fiqh Academy and the International achievements that were accomplished by the OIC during the Islamic News Agency (IINA), and evolving a proposal chairmanship of his country. for establishing an independent permanent human rights commission for the Islamic world in order to promote good H.E. Prof. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Secretary General of the governance. We have likewise strengthened and supported OIC, addressed the session, recalling that this was the first the economic institutions active in the field of joint Islamic CFM session since his assuming his second term in office as action, just as we have stimulated quality education and OIC Secretary General after his unanimous election at the seen to the evolvement of joint initiatives in the field of 11th Islamic Summit (Dakar, March 2008). The Secretary 2 Newsletter May -August 2009, No: 79 science and technology.” The Secretary General outlined the the city’s Arabo-Islamic identity. The final communiqué situation and the recent developments relating to the major rejected Israel’s attempts to judaize and conduct aggressive issues of concern for the Islamic world, starting with the acts against Islamic holy sites in Al-Quds. It also denounced Palestine question, and including the developments in Iraq, Israel’s tampering with the demographic structure of the Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir, among city.