His Excellency Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, yesterday (3 January) made a phone call to His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, during which they discussed the recent developments in Afghanistan and yesterday’s storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

FM Çavuşoğlu and FM Sheikh Abdullah discussed mutual concerns over Taliban's recent ban on women’s access to education and their exclusion from national and international non-governmental and humanitarian organizations.

FM Çavuşoğlu reaffirmed Türkiye’s expectation for this decision to be reversed and emphasized the importance of coordinated efforts in this regard, particularly through the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

For his part, FM Sheikh Abdullah underscored that this decision, as well as the earlier bans on girls from accessing secondary education, violate fundamental human rights, and emphasized that Islam devoted significant attention to women, granted them a privileged position, and safeguarded their rights. He affirmed the need to guarantee women's rights, as well as the importance of full and equal participation of women and girls in all aspects of life.

During the phone call, the ministers also reiterated their condemnation of the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque yesterday by an Israeli minister.

They underlined the importance of preserving the status and sanctity of holy places in Jerusalem and increasing coordination against such unacceptable acts. They reiterated the need to provide full protection for Al-Aqsa Mosque and halt serious and provocative violations taking place there and called upon Israeli authorities to assume responsibility for reducing escalation and instability in the region.

The ministers concluded by discussing issues related to the bilateral agenda.