WordBulletin

World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkish President Abdullah Gul left for Saudi Arabia on Monday to attend an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Speaking to reporters at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Gul said that the OIC summit would focus on the situation in Syria which was getting worse every day as well as impacts of the crisis on regional and international peace and security.

Gul said that he expected that the OIC summit would give a strong message for end of bloodshed in Syria and the start of a transition process as soon as possible. Within this scope, Syria's OIC membership could be suspended, he said.

Arab League had suspended Syria's membership last November, Gul recalled.

The summit would also discuss flow of Syrian refugees to neighboring countries, he said, adding that the number of Syrians staying in Turkey exceeded 55,000.

Muslim countries should support Syrian people's efforts for solution, he said.

Palestinian issue would also be taken up in the OIC summit, Gul said.

In regard to abduction of Huseyin Aygun from the main opposition Republican People's Party, the president said that it was a very serious incident. "Lawmakers represent not only their provinces but also Turkey, therefore it was an attack against the national will," he added.