Turkey joins GRP-MILF Int’l Contact Group

MANILA, Nov. 26 -– The Turkish Government has formally accepted the invitation to take part in the International Contact Group (ICG), a body that is being set up to break the deadlock in the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In a letter addressed to Ambassador Rafael Seguis, chair of the GRP peace panel for Talks with the MILF, and Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF peace panel, Turkish envoy Adnan Basaga confirmed his government’s participation in the ICG with reference to the invitation jointly signed by both parties during their last meeting on Nov. 16 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“This is indeed a positive step as it clears the way towards the actual resumption of the formal peace talks in the first week of December,” Seguis said.

In a historic agreement, both parties agreed to form the ICG during their talks held in Kuala Lumpur last Sept. 15.

To be comprised of government and non-government organizations, the ICG aims to restore the mutual trust between the GRP and the MILF and pave the way for the revival of negotiations that came to a standstill a year ago following the failed signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Seguis welcomes this development, which is the offshoot of the formal invitation sent by the panel chairmen to four countries – Turkey, United Kingdom, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

“The GRP and the MILF are also expecting the United Kingdom, Japan and Saudi Arabia to join the ICG,” he stated.

A member of the Peace Committee of the Southern Philippines, Turkey has been actively supporting the peace talks between the GRP and the MILF.

It is likewise a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which has been urging the GRP and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to fully implement the 1996 Final Peace Agreement.

The creation of the ICG is the second agreement among three confidence-building measures identified by the GRP and the MILF to resume talks.

The first agreement is the suspension of military operations (SOMO) by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which was reciprocated by the MILF through its suspension of military activities (SOMA), while the third is the Agreement on the Civilian Protection Component of the international Monitoring Team (ACPC-IMT) signed in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 27. (PNA) LBV/RBC/mec

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