A group of Muslim dignitaries and heads of NGOs from Britain and France has just returned from a trip to Istanbul where they had gone to meet the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The purpose of the visit was to give the delegates an opportunity to voice their concerns over the current situation facing Palestinians on a daily basis as a result of the illegal Israeli occupation and to urge Turkey to play a more active role in seeking justice for the Palestinian people. In their meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday 10th May, the delegates raised several pertinent issues including Israel's troubling accession to the OECD, the continuous Israeli settlement building and the ongoing siege on Gaza. Their concerns were met with firm statements of support from Prime Minister Erdogan who, while not living up to the high hopes that many had for him to veto Israel's accession to the OECD, nevertheless voiced his support over many other issues. He promised that Turkey would do all that it could to see the inhumane siege on Gaza lifted and would help the Palestinian people in any other way that it could.

While in Turkey the delegation also held lengthy discussion with the leader of Saadet Partisi, Prof. Numan Kurtulmu? and the national Chair of The Organisation of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People - MAZLUMDER
 
The delegation consisted of representatives from the UK based Middle East Monitor, The Islamic Human Rights Commission, The Palestine Return Centre and The Muslim Association of Britain. Delegates included: Massoud Shadjareh (Islamic Human Rights Commission), Majed al Zeer (Palestinian Return Centre), Dr Daud Abdullah (Middle East Monitor) Dr Abdallah Thomas Milcent (France) Said Ferjani (Muslim Association of Britain), Dr. Arafat Shoukri (European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza), Seyfeddin Kara (IHRC).