President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged the countries of the world to combat terrorism, and anti-Islam, while rejecting discourses correlating Islam with terror, in a statement on his personal Twitter account on Feb. 13.
He said all states should decisively condemn all forms of radical terrorism and groups like Daesh, al-Qaida, Boko Haram, al-Shabab, the PKK and its Syrian armed wing the People's Protection Units (YPG), and the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ), in order to put an end to the discussion where the Islamic world was being described by destruction, pain, and terror.
Erdoğan also called on everyone to pursue integrative policies that would help ensure unity and solidarity around the globe.
"Muslim societies that have distanced themselves from each other, due to sectarian and identity-based conflicts in Syria and Iraq, have only hurt themselves. We are faced with malicious efforts that relate our religion to terror, especially in the Western countries, and personally, as a Muslim, I must reject this," he said. Pointing out how the Islamic geography has been surrounded by pain, suffering, and troubles like terror, Erdoğan said the Islamic world was going through a hard time and emphasized on the importance of coming together, and said, "It is time to unite and move together for the whole region, the whole Islamic world, and even the future of mankind."
