ISTANBUL
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Muslim countries Wednesday to unite against terrorism that "firstly targeted Muslims" around the world.
Addressing the 10th session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Erdogan said the only way to overcome the crisis in the Islamic world was unity, solidarity and alliance.
"This meeting is a great opportunity to discuss the problems of the Islamic world. Because we can resolve every problem as long as we are united," he said.
The president said the Islamic world faced a wicked game being played against Muslims. "Today Muslims are killed by Muslims. Both the killed and the killer are Muslims. We can have different sects, but we have to stand together to end this bloodshed," he said.
The Turkish leader was particularly critical of the UN and Western countries.
"When Israel killed more than 2,500 people, including women and children last year, no western country or the UN condemned Israel for its terrorist deeds as they condemned the French attacks."
On Jan. 7, 12 people were killed when masked gunmen attacked the Paris headquarters of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which is known for printing controversial material, including cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in 2006 and 2012. Two days later, four other people were killed in a kosher supermarket in Paris by another gunman.
"There are also several attacks in Nigeria, Libya and in Iraq; why the west does not react against all these terrorist deeds equally?" he asked.
"If the west only condemns the killings targeting the artists or the journalists, then what about the journalists killed by Israel in Palestine in the past years?" Erdogan said.
"Terrorists and terrorist groups can never be representatives of Muslims or the Islamic world…to incite western countries against Muslims is really dangerous. The deeds of the terrorists and the terrorist groups are not the concern of Muslims," he said.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek also called on Islamic countries to cooperate against terrorism.
"The comments which implicate the whole Islamic world after the Paris attack cannot be acceptable. Also, freedom of speech cannot be evaluated as a right to insult the values of a religion," Cicek said.
Describing the Paris attack as “a crime against humanity", Cicek said "the international community must stand together against Islamophobic incidents which would create clashes among religions, civilizations and sects.
