The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has bared open anti-Islam sentiment as well as cultural racism, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday as anti-Russian sentiment is on the rise since Moscow’s tanks rolled into Ukraine last month.
"The disgraceful discussions within the scope of the Ukraine crisis, reveal the dangerous levels that anti-Islam sentiment and cultural racism has reached. The hate atmosphere fuelled by irresponsible media outlets, negatively affects millions of people together with Muslims whose language, religion and culture are different," Erdoğan said, speaking at the Second International Media and Islamophobia Forum in the capital Ankara.
Saying that Turkey does not accept discrimination among people, Erdoğan added: "We believe that the struggle against rising anti-Islam sentiment is not only that of Muslims, but the issue of the whole of humanity. Otherwise, we cannot prevent Islamophobic attacks as witnessed in New Zealand in 2019 and in Canada in 2021."
A lot of the vitriol at protests across the world has indeed focused on President Vladimir Putin, who gave the order for Russia's assault.
But sometimes ordinary Russians living abroad have become the targets.
In Germany, the windows of a shop selling Russian wares were vandalized, a restaurant refused to serve clients with Russian passports and a doctor refused to treat Russian patients.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday said there was "a growing atmosphere of hatred against Russians in several Western countries."
"It's very dangerous. Our fellow citizens have to be on the alert and vigilant," he said.
In Britain, home to an array of Russian oligarchs, a Conservative member of parliament Roger Gale, suggested every Russian living there should be expelled and "sent home."
Tensions are also rising in the three Baltic states and Georgia, which all have large Russian-speaking minorities dating in part from the Soviet era. In Georgia, real estate agents are asking the nationality of potential tenants. One recent vacancy announcement stated: "This flat is not to be let to aggressors. No Russians or Belarusians."
Erdoğan brought up the issue again recently during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, saying fascist practices against Russian nationals and culture in Western countries can never be acceptable.
"Islamophobia is continuing to poison all circles of communities from workers to public agents, from people in the street to politicians, spreading especially in Western countries like a pandemic that cannot be stopped," he continued to say in his video message to the Islamophobia forum.
Turkish officials have criticized their Western counterparts for remaining indifferent to anti-Muslim sentiment and fueling the ideology. Turkey has continuously called on world leaders to take action to stop the demonization of Muslims and has been taking action to tackle the growing problem.
According to a recently published report, titled "European Islamophobia Report 2020," Islamophobia in Europe has "worsened, if not reached a tipping point."
Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have frequently urged European decision-makers and politicians to take a stand against racism and other types of discrimination that have threatened the lives of millions of people living within the bloc’s borders.
