"It's a major victory of pro-Israeli lobby," he said in a reaction to the private news agency by phone from Istanbul yesterday.

Bangladesh lost to Turkey in a triangular fight that also left Malaysia beaten equally.

Turkey secured 32 votes while Bangladesh and Malaysian got 12 each in the first-ever secret ballot for the secretary general of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Conference.

Chowdhury however disagreed when asked if he thinks it a major setback for Bangladesh's diplomacy. He claimed that it was a great foreign policy achievement that "we contested the election against two economic giants in the Islamic world".

"We're certainly disappointed, but not broken-heart," he said.

Asked if he felt OIC would be dynamic under Turkey's leadership, Chowdhury said, "Well, the focus of OIC is likely to take a serious turn under the leadership of Turkey… The OIC and Israeli flags will now fly in Ankara."

"A member of NATO, Turkey is a secular country…They haven't been able to be in term with Islam, not even domestically."

Besides, he said, Turkey's foreign policy has more strength in getting acceptability from the power quarter than Bangladesh's.

To a question, Chowdhury said, "We have excellent relations with the United States, there is no problem with that. But we've our limitations in foreign policy with respect to popular opinion. We've the government responsive to popular opinion in the country. We can't afford to be guided (by external forces). Our foreign policy is also guided by popular opinion."

He said those voted for Bangladesh and Malaysia deserved congratulations as they had been able to resist tremendous pressure, "both in terms of political and material".

Asked why he could not finally muster support of the member-states that had directly and indirectly made commitment, Chowdhury said, "I think in a unipolar world, they are prevailed upon."

About the first-ever secret vote, he said it was a welcome development that an organisation like the OIC could come out of the "control of backroom play". All credit goes to Bangladesh and Malaysia because those who used to control the OIC have been forced to take to democratic practice and election, Chowdhury added.