The idea for the Solidarity Games came from
Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, during the Third
Islamic Summit in
Mecca in 1981, one year after a similar event called the
Islamic Games had been held in
Turkey.''' The
second Games were originally scheduled to take place in October 2009 in Iran, later rescheduled for April 2010, and ultimately canceled after a dispute arose between Iran and the
Arab world over the use of the term "
Persian Gulf" in logos for the Games, as some countries in the Arab world use the term "Arabian Gulf" instead.
Dispute over the name has been a recurring source of disharmony between Arab states and Iran. The
3rd Islamic Solidarity Games was held in
Palembang, Indonesia in 2013 and the
fourth edition took place in
Baku on 12–22 May 2017. The
2021 Islamic Solidarity Games were the fifth edition of the event. It was the first time that the event was organised by the
Turkish Olympic Committee. Scheduled to take place in 2021, the event was postponed and held in 2022 in
Konya, Turkey due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The
sixth games took place in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the first to be held in a country for the second time. ==Editions==