The 3rd Meeting of the Heads of Police Organizations and Agencies in Istanbul

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Published on 17 September 2013

From 4 to 6 September 2013 the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) together with Turkish National Police have organized the Third Meeting of the Heads of Police Organizations and Agencies in Istanbul, Turkey. More than 100 participants from more than 30 countries and organizations, such as Albania, Algeria, Arab League, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, OIC, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Saudi Arabia, Somalia, SIELEC, Sudan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkish Cypriot State, Turkmenistan and Uganda.

Note: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) - International Organization of Islamic Countries (until 2011 was called: Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). The HQ is located in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).

It was founded on 25 September 1969.On 28 June 2011 by the decision of the 38th session of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs Council (MFAC), held in Astana, the Organization of Islamic Conference was renamed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

On 28 June 2011 the Chairperson of the OIC became Kazakhstan and on the 39th session of the MFAC - Africans.

OIC member- states:

Azerbaijan, Algeria, Albania, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Gabon , Guyana , Gambia , Guinea , Guinea- Bissau, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mali, Maldives, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, UAE, Oman, Pakistan, the State of Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria (membership is suspended since 15 August 2012), Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Chad.

Observers:

The Russian Federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central African Republic, Thailand, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - since 1979, the National Liberation Front of the Philippines Moro.

International organizations:

The UN - since 1976, the Non-Aligned Movement - since 1977, Arab League - since 1975, the African Union - since 1977 and the Organization for Economic Co-operation (ECO) - since 1995.

The OIC is the biggest and most influential official governmental Muslim international organization. It currently consolidates 57 countries with a population of about 1.5 billion people. Originally it consisted of 25 Asian and African countries, as well as the Palestine Liberation Organization. The goals of OIC creation are: cooperation between the Muslim states, joint participation in the international activities, and the achievement of sustainable development of the member-states.

The governing bodies of the OIC: meeting of the kings, heads of states and governments (summit), Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, General Secretariat and subsidiary bodies (Article 3 of the OIC Charter). The meeting of the Kings, presidents of the countries (summit) determines the general policy of the Muslim states. Such meetings are held every three years.

The Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs is held annually. If necessary, Extraordinary Conferences are convened. The General Secretariat is the executive body of the OIC. The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General, who is elected by the Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs for four years. The authorities of the Secretary-General may be extended only once. The Secretary General has four deputies: on political affairs, science and technology, on economic issues, on social, cultural and information issues. There is an Office Director besides the deputies, who organizes purely technical work of the secretariat.

There are a number of units under the General Secretariat: the socio-economic, science and technology, for Asian, African and international affairs, information on Human Rights, National Minorities and Religious Affairs, on Muslim NGOs, etc.

Currently, the OIC is experiencing a period of modernization. In this regard, a new Charter of the Organization was adopted at the regular OIC Summit in Dakar (Senegal) in March 2008.

The purpose of the meeting was to improve the joint police activity in the framework of the OIC. The OIC Center should coordinate continuous cooperation of Police organizations and agencies in combatting transnational crime phenomenon and the threats posed by the criminal groups trespassing borders and challenging the humanity all over the world.

Tajikistan was represented by the Major General Said Jurakhonov, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Republic of Tajikistan (RT), Colonel Kudratullo Nazarov, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the MIA RT, Mr. Erdal Duzdaban, Border Management Officer of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan (OiT) and Ms. Manizha Tilavova, Police Reform Editor of the OSCE OiT. 

The preceding two fruitful sessions in Isfahan (2006) and Baku (2009) considerably served to materialize the cooperation spirit among the police organizations and agencies of the OIC states.

Three thematic areas for discussion have been selected after intensive evaluations. Besides the welcomed in-depth evaluations and contributions of the experts from the OIC member/observer states and international organizations, this meeting was intended to be a step forward to a renewed and empowered partnership at the strategic level on establishing cooperation.

The following thematic sessions were considered during the meeting:

  1. International Police Training Cooperation
  2. Establishing a Police Cooperation Mechanism within the OIC
  3. Cooperation on Counter Terrorism

There was the Expert Group Meeting on the 4th of September. The presentations were made by some countries as, Iran, Sudan, Turkey and others, the agenda was approved, the Draft of Istanbul Declaration of the Heads of Law Enforcement Organizations and Agencies of OIC was considered during the Experts Group Meeting. According to the Draft Istanbul Declaration the Coordination Center for the OIC cooperation was suggested to be established in Istanbul, Turkey. In this regards different countries raised various questions, as for instance, Mr. Jurakhonov asked to develop ToR, order of interaction and a mechanism of contact persons of the envisaged Coordination Center.  

On the 5th of September, there was the Third Meeting of the OIC Heads of Police Organizations and Agencies, where the Istanbul Declaration was finalized, countries shared their recommendations and proposals. Major General Jurakhonov made a speech, where on behalf of the MIA RT he expressed his gratitude to the organizers of the 3rd Meeting of the Police Organizations and Agencies. He stressed the relevance of the discussed issues on counter terrorism and suggested to expand the scope of cooperation: illicit drug trafficking and psychotropic substances, human trafficking and weapons, as well as cybercrime. He recommended to create working groups on these different directions, develop a mandate of the Center, a strategy and long term Action Plan for implementation of envisaged goals and objectives.

As for the regional cooperation in combatting transnational organized crime and terrorism he suggested the following:

1)    It is necessary that the decisions made by us should be implemented based on  the trust and mutual understanding;

2)    There should be a regular exchange of information, having a mutual interest, affiliated with terrorism, religious extremism, illicit drug trafficking and weapons, sharing information immediately with partners on the received information on the appeared threats for committing of terrorist attacks in the area of participating states of the OIC;

3)    Development and carrying out of comprehensive activities to initiate inter-state search of wanted persons, involved in commitment of crimes of terrorist and of any other extremist feature, as well as trafficking of illicit drugs and weapons;

4)    Providing of methodical and consultative aid on the issues of combatting terrorism and other phenomena of extremism, trafficking of illicit drugs and weapons.

He concluded that an expert group should be created to finalize these and other suggestions and development of regulatory document in the form of intergovernmental agreement.              

On the 5th of September, the Deputy Minister Jurakhonov has met with the General Director of the National Turkish Police Governor Mehmet Kiliclar, where the following issues were discussed:

-         Implementation progress of the agreements, concluded during the visit of Turkish National Police (TNP) representatives in December 2012, exchange of specialists, conducting of trainings and short-term courses for the MIA RT staff by the TNP on anti-terrorism issues, cybercrime, and other issues;

-         Exchange of information, as majority of wanted persons from Iran, Pakistan, Egypt and other countries come through Turkey to Tajikistan as tourists, those who committed terrorist and extremist crimes;

-         Become familiar with Istanbul Police Center on their work, as Tajikistan completes the stage on the safe city, where surveillance cameras are installed over the city.

On the same day after bilateral meeting, the Tajik delegation got a permission of the TNP General Director and visited Istanbul Police Center.

The Tajik delegation got acquainted with the activities of the control room, where operators follow up the records done online by cameras, installed all over Istanbul. In 2004 a video surveillance system was introduced first time in Turkey, Istanbul and in 2005 the given Center was launched by the Prime Minister of Istanbul.

This system provides:

-         Efficiency in security;

-         Minimizes the use of resources;

-         Facilitates planning;

-         Reduces the quantity of crimes.

The control system covers 39 provinces of Istanbul. There are 5549 cameras installed in 1534 points and 1344 cameras with high resolution in 336 points. 15 Operators work in the Center in 3 shifts. The records are kept during 1 month. Cameras are also installed in the detention centers of the Police Stations, where observance of human rights will be under surveillance.