page_title: Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
section_title: Secretary General of the OIC
hierarchical_section_title: Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu / Secretary General of the OIC
caption_attribution_description: English: GORKI, MOSCOW REGION. With Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. Русский: МОСКОВСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ, ГОРКИ. С генеральным секретарём Организации Исламская конференция Экмеледдином Ихсаноглу.
context_page_description: Ekmeleddin Mehmet İhsanoğlu is a Turkish academic, politician and diplomat who was Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation from 2004 to 2014. He is also an author and editor of academic journals and advocate of intercultural dialogue.
  İhsanoğlu studied science at the Ain Shams University, where he received his BSc in 1966. He remained in Cairo and obtained his MSc in 1970 from Al-Azhar University. İhsanoğlu received his PhD from the Faculty of Science at the Ankara University in 1974. İhsanoğlu's academic work has focused on the history of scientific activity and institutions of learning within Islam, cultural exchanges between Islam and the West, the relationship between science and religion, and the development of science in its socio-cultural environment.
  İhsanoğlu was the founder of the Department of History of Science at the Faculty of Letters of Istanbul University, and he remained the chairman of that department between 1984 and 2003.
context_section_description: Within the framework of his mission as Secretary General of OIC, Prof. Ihsanoğlu took several initiatives to reform the OIC's agenda and strategies in various fields, with the motto: “modernisation and moderation”. As of his first year in the office, he guided the preparation of the “Ten-Year Programme of Action to Face the Challenges of Twenty-first Century” which was adopted by the OIC Member States at their Extraordinary Summit Conference in Mecca, December 2005. Through this programme and the new Charter of the OIC which was adopted by the Eleventh Summit Conference in March 2008, he introduced the application of some concepts and principles for the first time in the OIC. Thus, for example,
  the issue of human rights was introduced to the new Charter of the OIC and the Ten-Year Programme of Action. The new Charter of the OIC stipulates the establishment of an independent Permanent Commission on Human Rights to promote the civil, political, social and economic rights enshrined in the Organisation's covenants and declarations and in universally agreed human rights instruments;
  definition of and action to combat the problem of terrorism was introduced to the Ten-Year Programme of Action (Chapter VI on Combating terrorism);
  objectives were adopted in the same Programme of Action emphasizing cultural dialogue (Chapter III on “Islam- The religion of moderation and tolerance”).
  Ihsanoğlu attached importance to increasing the role and effectiveness of the OIC in solving problems and contributing to progress and cooperation among the OIC Member States in various areas of development, including science and technology, transport and communications, tourism, and fostering trade among the Member States, with particular attention to the least developed countries (LDCs) among them.
  The achievements realized during his tenure in the field of economic and commercial cooperation is of particular significance. First, he had assigned priority to the entry into force of the cooperation agreements and the statutes of some institutions in the field of economy and trade, pending for signing and ratification. As a result, a number of agreements and statutes which would govern the OIC's ‘Trade Preferential System’, entered into force after completion of the necessary number of ratifying countries. The OIC aims to increase the level of intra-OIC trade up to 20 percent of the OIC total. He has also initiated the OIC cotton programme. to help develop economies of, in particular, the West African Member States of the OIC. A similar program in the domain of tourism was also developed which secured active participation of the OIC Member States. He gave importance to transport projects, such as the ‘Dakar-Port Sudan Railway Project’, the ‘Dushanbe - Mazari Sharif - Herat Railway link’, etc.
  At the same time he made efforts to enhance the OIC activity in conflict resolution and peace-building in its Member States and in the world. In view of stopping the sectarian conflicts in Iraq he initiated and coordinated the signing of a ‘Makkah Al-Mukarramah Declaration on the Iraqi Situation’ by Iraqi scholars of Sunni and Shia traditions with a view to interdict and outlaw sectarian killing in Iraq, and declaring such practices as crimes, prohibited and proscribed by Islam (2006). Based on another initiative of Ihsanoğlu towards reinforcing mutual understanding between schools of thought and belief, the Islamic Fiqh Academy elaborated a practical plan to deepen the dialogue between the Islamic schools of thought (2008) which would lead to series of meetings of scholars (“ulema”) from the Member States.
  As Ihsanoglu assumed the office on 1 January 2005, he immediately launched an emergency appeal to the OIC Member States to provide the victims of the destructive earthquake and the following tsunami that hit South and South Asia on 26 December 2004 with humanitarian aid. He also took necessary measures to coordinate and channel the relief efforts. In view of the huge scale of such disasters and the resulting severe humanitarian crisis situation which go well be
caption: Ihsanoğlu in 2009.
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