President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday condemned the recently rising trend of Islamophobia, the recent burnings of the Quran and “populist discourse that incites hate speech.”
In a joint statement issued following the leaders’ meeting in New York on the margins of the 78th U.N. General Assembly, the leaders also expressed concern over the emergence of a “new form of racism” characterized by xenophobia, negative profiling and stereotyping of Muslims.
The pair condemned “in the strongest terms the recent incidents of the burning of copies of the Holy Quran witnessed in several European countries under the guise of freedom of expression as well as the populist discourse that incites abuse, hate speech and aggression against Islam and Muslims,” it said.
President Erdoğan and Ibrahim also expressed “deep concern” about “the trend of increasing hatred, intolerance, discrimination and acts of violence against Muslims and their sanctities that has reached an alarming level in many parts of the world, especially in Europe.”
The leaders said they welcomed the adoption of General Assembly Resolution 76/254 to declare March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia, as well as the urgent debate during the 53rd session of the U.N. Human Rights Council to discuss the “alarming rise” in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred as manifested by the recurrent desecration of the Holy Quran and the adoption of a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution defining the burning of sacred books as religious hatred.
The leaders welcomed General Assembly Resolution 77/318 on Promoting Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Countering Hate Speech adopted on July 25.
According to the statement, Erdoğan and Ibrahim also underlined that actions of religious hatred, racism, discrimination and xenophobia pose a threat to peace and incite a culture of violence.
The leaders further called on all relevant stakeholders, including governments, to increase efforts to address discrimination, xenophobia, racism and hate speech in line with international human rights.
Since earlier this year, the incessant Quran burnings in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, under the pretext of “free speech,” have sparked widespread protests in Muslim countries, including attacks on diplomatic missions.
The Danish and Swedish governments have condemned the burnings and are considering new laws that could stop them. But domestic critics say such decisions would undermine “freedom of speech.”
Muslims view the Quran as the literal word of God and desecration of the holy book is deeply offensive, resulting in protests in the Muslim world.
