Meeting In Jakarta, Indonesian Foreign Minister-Turkey Discusses Islamophobia And UN DK Reform

JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Jakarta, Saturday, to discuss Islamophobia and reform of the UN Security Council (DK PBB).

"Our two countries have the same principles. We want freedom for Palestine. We want peace in Afghanistan and respect the rights of Afghan women," Marsudi said in a joint press statement with Fidan.

"Indonesia and Turkey will continue to work together to promote issues that are of common interest," he added.

"Indonesia and Turkey are two leading developing countries that have significant influence in their respective regions," he added.

"We are also fellow members of the G20, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and MIKTA (the cross-regional group consisting of Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey, and Australia)," he said.

Minister Fidan, who visited Indonesia for the first time since taking office in June, said the meeting discussed increasing global challenges, including Islamophobia and attacks on the Koran.

The world was shocked by the repeated burning of the Al-Quran in Sweden, with the latest incident recorded at a mosque in Stockholm during Eid last June.

The action drew widespread criticism from various countries and international organizations, including Turkey, Indonesia, the European Union, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

"We also discussed regional issues, ranging from Afghanistan, the Middle East, Palestine, Rohingya, to the reform of the UN Security Council," said Fidan.

The Indonesian government is pushing for the reform of the UN DK, given the importance of representatives of Asia and Africa on the council.

Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN DK together with the United States, China, France, and Britain, also underlined the need for UN DK reforms.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last month said Moscow would seek to expand its UN DK membership to provide more representatives to Asian, African and Latin American countries, and break what it describes as "West domination."