The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called for a “mutually acceptable” solution to the Cyprus problem in a joint declaration published at the end of its latest council of foreign ministers.

Foreign ministers from the OIC’s 57 member states had descended on Istanbul over the weekend, with the joint declaration consisting of 33 articles related to global affairs.

Of Cyprus, the declaration read that the summit’s attendees “support the aspirations of the Muslim Turkish Cypriots to secure their inherent rights and stress the importance of finding a negotiated, mutually acceptable, just, lasting, and sustainable settlement” to the Cyprus problem.

It added that attendees “emphasise the importance of developing contacts with the Muslim Turkish Cypriots in order to overcome the just isolation imposed upon them”.

During the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had also made reference to Cyprus, saying in his address that Turkish Cypriots “unfortunately continue to live under the unfair and inhuman isolation imposed on them for decades”.

“We call on all member states to support the natural rights of the Turkish Cypriots and establish direct contact with them,” he said.

The north’s ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu was present at the summit, and in his speech said that “a permanent and sustainable reconciliation on the island can only be achieved on the basis of the existing two-state reality”.

He also called on OIC members to “take immediate steps to stop Israel to end the massacre which has been going on for over 20 months and has caused the deaths of over 55,000 Palestinians”.

“The Turkish Cypriot people, who have experienced similar attacks and pain in the past, deeply feel the pain of their Palestinian brothers, and a solution to the longstanding Palestinian problem is possible with the acceptance of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state and the principle of two states,” he said.