Turkey today joined the Asian-African bloc which the Arab League has been building in the United Nations since the close of the Bandung conference in Indonesia last April. Word of the Turkish decision to adhere to the bloc was passed to Asian and African delegations here today by Edward A Rizk. Charge d’Affaires for Lebanon and this month’s chairman of the Asian-African caucus here.
The Asian-African bloc has held two meetings this summer, both officially devoted to problems of colonialism and problems of racial discrimination affecting their regions. The group has already proposed three amendments to the agenda of the next General Assembly, which convenes September 20, backing nationalist movements in Morocco, Algeria and West Irian.
However it is common knowledge here that the Arab League’s principal interest in keeping the Asian-African nations together as a single bloc concerned the possibility of organizing all of the Asian and African countries as a pressure group against Israel. Turkey’s adherence to the bloc was engineered, however, not be any of the Arab delegations but by Arthur S Lall, current chief of the Indian delegation. Some circles here saw the possibility that Turkish adherence to the bloc might work in favor of Israel since Turkey is at odds with Egypt on most of the significant international policies affecting the Middle East. With Turkey’s adherence the bloc now consists of 17 countries.
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