Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka paid a visit to Turkey, last week, in conjunction with the April 14–15 Istanbul meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Founded in 1969, the OIC has 57 members and holds meetings once every three years. At the Istanbul meeting, 33 countries were represented by the heads of state or prime ministers and the rest by foreign ministers (RIA Novosti, April 14).
Many Russian media outlets lambasted Lukashenka for visiting Turkey at this time—i.e., while relations between Moscow and Ankara have been frigid following Turkey’s downing of a Russian bomber that had violated Turkish airspace …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation