Late Necmettin Erbakan, former Prime Minister of Turkey and founding father of D-8, is being remembered on the fifth year of his death through the programs in his memory all across Turkey. D-8 Secretary-General, Dr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi, attended as a keynote speaker in the commemoration ceremony that was held by Erbakan Foundation in the Black Sea province of Samsun. The ceremony was also attended by Mr. Fatih Erbakan, President of Erbakan Foundation and local government officials as well as huge attendance of people of Samsun. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Mousavi said: “I am very pleased that this programme is being held to mark the fifth anniversary of the passing away of founding of D-8 and former Prime Minister, Prof. Dr. Necmettin Erbakan, one of the most distinguished figures not only in the Turkish but also in the political history of Islamic World for the last fifty years”

He underlined that late Erbakan played the most critical and pivotal role in establishing the D-8 Organization in 1997 during his office of the Prime Minister of Turkey. Establishing D-8 was a major step toward establishing economic unity among the Muslim countries.  

He also emphasized that as founding father of D-8, late Erbakan’s periphery did not limit within the national frontier of Turkey but necessarily spread throughout the Muslim Ummah for the betterment, happiness and welfare of the whole humanity and Islamic world. “All he wished was a developed and prosperous Turkey and Islamic world; thus he attached great importance to cooperation among Islamic countries. He always underscored the need for establishing a fair order for equitable distribution of wealth.  He stood upright against acts of injustice and wrongdoings that caused sufferings to people around the World”, he added.