NEW YORK
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held talks with foreign ministers of member states of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), Albanian foreign minister, high representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, foreign ministers of countries of Southeast Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) as well as foreign ministers of Iraq and Greece on the sidelines of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.
Davutoglu met with foreign ministers of member states of BSEC over an informal working meal. Davutoglu said that BSEC contributed to commercial ties and cultural interaction among member states, and that relations among BSEC countries should be boosted.
During the meeting between Davutoglu and Albanian Foreign Minister Edmond Panariti, commercial relations were assessed.
Davutoglu had a meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos at Turkish Center in New York. The meeting focused on development of bilateral relations.
Turkish FM Davutoglu met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and reiterated Turkey's stance in regard to his Kirkuk visit. Combating terrorism was also discussed in the meeting.
Davutoglu held talks with various world dignitaries on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings.
Davutoglu held a trilateral meeting with Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo and High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations Project Jorge Sampaio in which an anti-Islam movie "Innocence of Muslims" and the ensuing acts of violence came up. The three officials stressed the importance of giving messages of understanding and tolerance.
Diplomatic sources said that Minister Davutoglu talked with Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, the President of the General National Congress of Libya, in New York.
Davutoglu thanked el-Magariaf for his stance on the attacks on mosques and religious schools in Libya and reminded el-Magariaf that Turkey attached high importance to the protection of Ottoman mosques and religious schools in Libya.
El-Magariaf, in his part, thanked Turkey for their contributions to Libya.
El-Magariaf extended an invitation to Davutoglu to visit Libya soon.
Minister Davutoglu on Thursday also attended a reception hosted by the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu for the heads of delegations and ministers.
And lastly on Thursday, Davutoglu attended a working meal with the foreign ministers of Egypt and Iran. The three ministers discussed what had to be done in order to end the bloodshed in Syria and how to help Syria reach stability. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi informed his Turkish and Egyptian counterparts about his recent talks in Damascus and his views.
