The West intentionally exploited terrorism to create the concept of Islamophobia, Turkey's Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop said Monday.
"In order to create Islamophobia, it was necessary to present a picture of terrorism by Muslims in the West. This doesn't occur on its own. Islam doesn't allow such a thing anyway. It's impossible for normal Muslims to do such a thing (terrorism)," Şentop told a panel on Islamophobia in Europe held in the capital Ankara.
The parliament speaker noted that the idea of “Muslim terrorist” was invented by some Western countries and their intelligence agencies. He continued by giving the example of French support for Daesh terrorists through Lafarge.
Şentop also said that the Western countries also invented the idea of Islamophobia based on the association of Muslims with terrorism.
“Islamophobia does not only involve hostility against Islam, but it also involves xenophobia and racism,” Şentop said, as he argued that the word Islamophobia should not be used in Turkish or other languages because it was a term coined by anti-Muslim circles.
Turkish officials have criticized their Western counterparts for remaining indifferent to anti-Muslim sentiment and fueling such ideology as experts believe the country can lead the fight.
They have continuously called on world leaders to take action to stop the demonization of Muslims and have been taking action to tackle the growing problem.
Turkey has a large diaspora living in the West, particularly in Europe. According to the Foreign Ministry, the Turkish diaspora exceeds 6.5 million people, around 5.5 million living in Western European countries. The growing anti-Muslim hatred and far-right sentiment in these countries have significantly affected the communities.
