Talking about the OIC's assessment of the developments of events in Damascus and Beirut, Professor Ihsanoglu told "Asharq al-Awsat": "What happened in Syria and in Lebanon is a mistake that cannot be accepted. Muslims everywhere should continue their peaceful stand without infringing on the rights of the others." He disclosed that he talked to Syrian Foreign Minister Farooq al-Sharaa yesterday morning following what happened to the Danish and Norwegian Embassies and that he informed him that the Syrian authorities had launched a security investigation into the two incidents. Ihsanoglu talked about telephone contacts with the Saudi Foreign Ministry, Yemen, and Libya during the past two days to discuss the developments and exchange views in order for the council of the Islamic countries' foreign ministers to take a specific stand and measure soon. He added that he had in the past few days telephone contacts with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and EU Representative Javier Solana to exchange views on the current situation resulting from the cartoons. He said: "I exchanged views with Kofi Annan about what the international organization can do to draw up principles of respect for the freedom of religions. I also had a meeting with the European countries' ambassadors and representatives at the OIC secretariat general to discuss the ways out of the present crisis."
The OIC secretary general welcomed the Vatican statement denouncing the cartoons that were published on 31 September 2005 but said this statement came somewhat late. He stressed that the OIC secretariat escalated the stand toward the Danish Government four months after the Islamic countries' ambassadors in the capital Copenhagen contacted it and their media and informed them of the dangerous situation but all these efforts to solve the crisis from the beginning were ignored and the Danish Government ignored them.