ISTANBUL, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of Islamic countries on Tuesday called for prioritizing mediation as an effective mechanism for peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Ambassador Abdallah Alim, assistant secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for political affairs, urged member states to build efforts toward greater engagement in mediation and avoid the "threat of using force."
"International relations should be based on justice, respect and good neighborhood," he said at the first OIC conference on mediation held in Istanbul.
For the ambassador, the problems facing Islamic countries such as Myanmar, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Libya could only be stopped from expanding and getting worse through mediation.
According to Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz, OIC member states witnessed 30 to 40 conflicts on their territories in 2015 alone, while 65 percent of the world's displaced people are from the OIC region.
He called for efforts toward "more effective and more comprehensive implementation of mediation" for the pursuit of a humanitarian foreign policy.
The one-day conference was attended by senior officials, academicians and mediators from 40 member states and several international organizations.
