Islamophobia Crime Aganist Humanity, says Turkish PM
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in an interview on Monday with The Washington Post, scolded those who link Islam to the terrorism of al-Qaeda and other extremist groups that perpetrate violence in the name of Islam.
The coinage of such terms as Islamic terrorism' or Islamo-fascism,' these have injured the Muslim people in the world, and it is best to avoid such characterizations Erdoğan said.
Asked whether he planned to communicate that to U.S. President George W. Bush, who frequently invokes such phrases in speeches, he said he has in the past.
In the same way as we consider anti-Semitism a crime against humanity he said, Islamo-phobia is also a crime against humanity.
Erdoğan met with Bush at the White House on Monday, when the two leaders discussed a range of issues during their almost two-hour-long meeting, from extremism to terrorism, the Middle East conflict, Iraq, Iran, Cyprus and Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
In brief remarks after their discussion Bush said, We talked about our determined efforts to fight terror and extremism. We talked about our common efforts to bring stability to the Middle East.
The Erdoğan-Bush meeting lasted nearly an hour longer than planned, and U.S. officials said this reflected the critical importance of the relationship with Turkey for Washington.
In recent weeks, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and top military commanders have voiced concerns over growing religious fundamentalism in veiled criticism ofErdoğan's government, and hours before the Erdoğan-Bush meeting, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt said Turkey was facing a fundamentalist threat.
Asked whether he planned to communicate that to U.S. President George W. Bush, who frequently invokes such phrases in speeches, he said he has in the past.
In the same way as we consider anti-Semitism a crime against humanity he said, Islamo-phobia is also a crime against humanity.
Erdoğan met with Bush at the White House on Monday, when the two leaders discussed a range of issues during their almost two-hour-long meeting, from extremism to terrorism, the Middle East conflict, Iraq, Iran, Cyprus and Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
In brief remarks after their discussion Bush said, We talked about our determined efforts to fight terror and extremism. We talked about our common efforts to bring stability to the Middle East.
The Erdoğan-Bush meeting lasted nearly an hour longer than planned, and U.S. officials said this reflected the critical importance of the relationship with Turkey for Washington.
In recent weeks, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and top military commanders have voiced concerns over growing religious fundamentalism in veiled criticism ofErdoğan's government, and hours before the Erdoğan-Bush meeting, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt said Turkey was facing a fundamentalist threat.
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