No place for sectarian discrimination in Turkey: Erdogan

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday stressed that there is no place for sectarian discrimination in Turkey.

"Fault lines among Muslims are further sharpened by highlighting of differences in races, languages, sects, and temperament," Erdogan told at the sixth Religious Council meeting held by Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate in the capital Ankara.

Noting that the Turkish nation never discriminates between the Rashidun Caliphs, referring to the 30-year reign of the first four caliphs following the death of the Prophet Muhammad, Erdogan said that Shiism and Sunnism are reflected as separate religions by some people.

Referring to an incident involving an Alevi house whose one of the walls was marked with an X sign by unidentified persons, Erdogan said this kind of incident was made in a bid to divide the Turkish society.

“All of our security agencies work on those who put these signs on doors and when they are captured, they will be brought to justice,” he said.

He went on to say that Turkey will never allow such designs that are against values of Turkey and aiming to harm the Turkish society.

On Wednesday, a wall of an Alevi house in western Izmir province was marked with X sign by unidentified persons.

Mentioning that sectarian and interest-oriented approaches have prevented Muslims from meeting a common ground, Erdogan stressed an understanding that sees self-interests above the interests of ummah has nothing to offer to Muslims.

“Unfortunately, the Islamic Ummah lost the grounds of coming together, doing common business and producing common solutions to their problems. Even today, we see this deficiency in many of our issues including Jerusalem, Palestine, anti-Islamism, anti-terrorism, justice and human rights,” he said, referring to importance of consultation.

Touching on Turkey’s effort towards interests of Muslims, Erdogan said Turkey takes actions against attacks on things sacred to Muslims and to ensure that Islamic world takes a common position as well as fights for gaining self-confidence of Muslims.