The closing session of the recent 13th summit of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held in Istanbul, experienced a diplomatic scandal, set in motion by the host's economic finger-pointing. The proverbial shoe would soon, however, be on the other foot.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chairing the summit April 15, referred to the widely discussed financial problems of the OIC as the cause of the organization's passivity and ineffectiveness. He went on to declare that Turkey would be donating $2 million to help make the OIC the influential organization suggestive of its name. Erdogan then began to read the names of member states that had not paid their dues. But Saudi Arabian Finance Minister Ibrahim Abdulaziz al-Assaf stated that “Such issues are solved inside the organization. It is not proper to expose the countries that have not paid their dues.”
