Today.Az » World news » PM denies term ‘moderate’ as Islam exclude all extremisims
23 September 2011 [10:00] - Today.Az


Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan denied the expression of ‘moderate Islam’ widely used for his government in international media reports, adding that Islam excludes extremism and a Muslim must have serious problems to be a terrorist. Erdoğan also reiterated his definition of secularism, this time referring to the Turkish Constitution adopted in 1982 – the one his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has been attempting to change for a long time.

“I do not accept the expression ‘moderate Islam.’ Actually, Islam does not accept extremism. It is the religion of peace and does not allow terror. It is not correct to mention Islam and terrorism together,” said Erdoğan, speaking in a televised interview on U.S. public television channel PBS. “If a Muslim becomes a terrorist, it means that he or she has serious problems. He or she has nothing to do with Islam,” said Erdoğan, who was in New York to attend the 66th session of the U.N. General Assembly.

“Is there any terrorist among Christians and Jews? The world has witnessed what happened in Norway, the U.K. and Spain. Christian and Jewish people can also become terrorists. It is not correct to identify Islam with terrorism,” he added. “There is a definition of secularism in Turkey’s Constitution dated 1982. According to it, individuals are not secular, but the state itself is secular. And the state has an equal distance to all religious groups. The state is the guarantee for those groups,” said Erdoğan, taking his definition from the constitution prepared by the 1980 military coup leaders in Turkey. “I explained it to Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan people,” said Erdoğan, referring to his four-day visit to Arab uprising countries. “The U.S. has a different style of secularism and the Western world has its own understanding. There is not any opposition or enmity in our secularism against any religious beliefs. People in the Middle East, especially in Egypt, think that secularism is an anti-religious movement. I told them that was not correct,” he said. “Turkey is an exemplary country with its predominantly Muslim population which proved that democracy and the Islam can co-exist.”

US supports Turkey in Predator issue

Erdoğan said Turkey was working hard to become a member of the EU. “I hope the EU will correct its mistake and does not give up Turkey for the sake of the Greek Cypriot administration.” Meanwhile, Erdoğan’s planned meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was delayed due to the intensity of meetings and is expected to be held Thursday or Friday, said Turkish Prime Ministry officials.

“Turkey and the U.S. have cooperated with each other to create a joint platform against terrorism and share intelligence in the region [northern Iraq]. They also have supported us in the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle issue,” Erdopan said. Referring to Turkey’s recent tensions with Israel over Israel’s failure to apology for a raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship that killed nine Turkish citizens in May 2010, Erdoğan said, “We have no negative feelings about the Israeli people. Our attitude in this issue is against the Israeli administration. And the Israeli administration, not the Israeli people, is solely responsible for the current state of affairs. “I believe that the Israeli people are not happy with their current leadership,” he said. The West should ask what made a Turkish prime minister who had good relations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert come to this point today, said Erdoğan. On the issue of Palestine’s U.N. statehood bid, he said, “We don’t know [the U.S.’s] stance. Palestine needs nine votes on the U.N. Security Council.


/Hurriyet Daily News/



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