Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “In any civilized country in the world, it is not possible to describe the attacks on people’s sanctities as freedom of thought, and for us there is no difference between the actions that target our mosques and the outrageous attacks on our holy book.”
Erdogan added in a speech while chairing today a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Ankara: “Freedom of thought is a tool that legitimizes all forms of Islamophobia and xenophobia among those who, when it comes to their security, do not recognize the law, but when it comes to the sanctities of Muslims, they suddenly remember freedom of ” Thought”.
He also said: “We see in these attacks new manifestations of the disease of hostility to Islam and Muslims, which is spreading rapidly in the West like a malignant tumor, and the Western world does not take any steps, especially in combating this disease.”
Erdogan stressed that there is no freedom in burning the Holy Quran, just as burning a church, synagogue, or temple of another religion is not freedom, and those who allow hate crimes and condone them as much as their perpetrators must realize the truth.
He stressed that “the despicable attack that targeted the Holy Qur’an in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, at a time when the Islamic world is experiencing the joy of Eid al-Adha, caused everyone’s anger.”
He said, “It is not possible for this deviation, which ignores the feelings of two billion Muslims, to be compatible with the most basic human values, not to mention freedom of thought, and the most dangerous thing is the implementation of this hate crime under the protection of the police.”
Erdogan pointed out that lessons have not yet been learned from the terrorist act in which 51 Muslims were killed while performing prayers in a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, four years ago.
He pointed out that “neo-Nazi organizations continue to flourish, often with the support of their extensions within the country,” stressing that hate crimes committed by right-wing extremists are not often recorded, and their perpetrators are either not arrested or go unpunished.
He explained that racist terrorist attacks target not only Muslims, but Jews, Africans, Asians, Roma and immigrants as well.
“We saw this again in the shipwreck that sank off the Mora peninsula last week, and hundreds of refugees died in the week before last,” he said.
He added: “Just as no serious effort was made to save them, the death of hundreds of people did not occupy the agenda, as did the five rich people who went to see the Titanic (they died in the submarine “Titan” that sank in the Atlantic Ocean).
Erdogan stressed that discrimination in many Western countries has become “a social norm, and cultural racism has turned into institutional racism, especially in countries known for their colonial past.”
Source: National Iraqi News Agency
