Visiting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer reveled plans to work together to bring peace to the West Asia "and the Muslim world." Before leaving for Ankara, Musharraf had extolled the virtues of "attacking the issue of extremism and terrorism" and work with "like-minded Muslim countries" to "address all the problems afflicting the Muslim world."

Musharraf has been floating a new forum of Muslim nations which will give it a role to resolve conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories and has been campaigning for this forum in Riyadh, Cairo, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur. It is not clear how this forum will be different from the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and whether this is a plan to exclude Iran which has consistently opposed Islamabad's role in that forum. It is also not clear if Musharraf is creating another role for Pakistan given that its existing role as a frontline state in the war on terror is being questioned.