Fight Islamophobia ‘like anti-Semitism after Holocaust’, Turkey’s Erdogan tells world
- Organisation of Islamic Cooperation members call for comprehensive measures to deal with ‘affliction’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the world to fight back against Islamophobia in the same way it responded to “anti-Semitism after the Holocaust”, following the deadly attacks on two New Zealand mosques.
The Turkish leader has presented the mosque attacks, by a self-avowed white supremacist who killed 50 people, as part of a wider assault on Islam and demands the West do more against anti-Muslim sentiment.
“Just as humanity fought against anti-Semitism after the Holocaust disaster, it should fight against rising Islamophobia in the same determined fashion,” Erdogan told an emergency meeting of ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Friday.
“Right now we are facing Islamophobia and Muslim hatred,” he said.
During the March 15 attack, alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant killed 50 men, women and children – the victims aged between three and 77 years old – in a massacre that sparked global revulsion.
He live-streamed much of the killing and spread a manifesto on social media claiming it was a strike against Muslim “invaders”.