Source: Reuters.com             June 10, 2010

In a diplomatic coup for Turkey, all members of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), except Israel itself, condemned Israel's raid on a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza at a summit on Tuesday, calling on the Jewish state to end its "inhuman" blockade of the Palestinian territory.  President Elbegdorj led the Mongolian delegation at the meeting in Istambul, which brought together Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, among others.

A final declaration of the 20-member forum issued at the end of the two-day summit omitted any reference to Israel, which as a fellow member had objected to such mention. But Turkey's President Gul, who was acting as chairman of CICA, read a separate declaration in which all members except Israel criticized Israel's actions.

CICA has been a low-key forum until now. Its members include: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.