By Michaela P. del Callar
11/27/2009
Turkey has formally accepted the invitation to be a member of the International Contact Group (ICG), a body that is being set up to guarantee all agreements in the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Muslim separatist group in the country.
In a letter addressed to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, chairman of the government peace panel for talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and Mohagher Iqbal, chairman 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 toward the actual resumption of the formal peace talks in the first week of December,” Seguis said.
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 their failed signing of the “Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain,” which was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Apart from Turkey, the United Kingdom, Japan and Saudi Arabia were also invited to be part of the ICG. The negotiating parties have yet to receive response from these three countries.
“The GRP and the MILF are also expecting the United Kingdom, Japan and Saudi Arabia to join the ICG,” Seguis, though, said.
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 also a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference, which has been urging the government and former secessionist group Moro National Liberation Front to fully implement the peace agreement it signed in 1996.
The creation of the ICG is the second agreement among three confidence-building measures identified by the government and the MILF before it could resume formal talks.
The first agreement is the suspension of military operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which was reciprocated by the MILF through its suspension of military activities, while the third is the Agreement on the Civilian Protection Component of the international Monitoring Team signed in Kuala Lumpur last Oct. 27.
The MILF, which the military estimates to have 11,000 fighters, is the largest group battling for Muslim self-rule in Mindanao. A final peace agreement is expected to end more than four decades of Muslim rebellion in South.
