Erdoğan: ISIL Has Nothing To Do With Islam

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that the terrorist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has nothing to do with Islam and stressed that Islam is a peaceful religion that does not condone violence.
Speaking at a symposium on international drug policies and public health held by the Turkish Green Crescent (Yeşilay) in İstanbul on Monday, Erdoğan said ISIL's acts have nothing to do with Islam.
Stressing that people around the world do not talk about the reasons behind the recent terrorism threat of ISIL and why these young people commit brutal murders, Erdoğan said it is not right to associate terrorist acts that take place in the Middle East with Islam.
“Our religion, Islam, or any other monotheistic religion, does not legitimize such violence and murder. The world is rallying against the ISIL threat, forming a coalition to rally against the ISIL threat. At the same time, the PKK terror threat has been going on in my country for 32 years. I wonder why this does not bother anyone in the world. The PKK does not exist just in Turkey but in Europe as well. All of its finance and arms are coming from there [Europe],” said Erdoğan.
He criticized European countries for not taking any measures against the PKK and asked: “I wonder why these European countries have not been bothered by the PKK. Because the PKK does not contain the word Islam in its name. They [the PKK] have nothing to do with Islam.”
The president underscored in his speech that the ISIL militants also have nothing to do with Islam.
“These men [ISIL militants] and ISIL have nothing to do with Islam because our religion, Islam, would never sanction terrorism. In fact, none of the monotheistic religions would allow terrorism that threatens peace; we do not see such a thing in the holy books of these religions. Those terrorists are deceiving themselves when they commit murder in the name of a religion as a way of self justification and they bury their own problems deep,” said Erdoğan.
Erdoğan pointed out that the foreign fighters coming from the West traveling to Syria is an important problem and that it is wrong to label such acts “Islamic terror” or associate it with the religion of Islam.
“France says about 1,000 people joined ISIL. Britain says 600. Germany is similar. Australia says there are people in the country joining ISIL. I believe not all of them are Muslims. There are drug addicts among them,” said Erdoğan.
He also emphasized that Turkey needs to embrace refugees who fled from the wars in the region. “Our civilization, our religion will never allow us to reject the refugees at the border. But how many refugees does Europe host? I'll tell you: only 130,000. Don't you have compassion, Europe? But you send arms when it's necessary,” Erdoğan added.

World Economic Forum meeting in İstanbul

The president made similar comments on Sunday while addressing a crowd in İstanbul during a meeting of the World Economic Forum.
“I ask the world [leaders], when a terrorist organization like ISIL emerges you rally against it, but why don't you rally against a terrorist organization like the PKK? Why don't you say ‘We need to fight against it together'? I am having difficulty understanding this. If the world order stands for justice, then it means something,” he said.
Heavily criticizing Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, Erdoğan said tolerance toward al-Assad and negligence on the part of world leaders has paved the way for today's painful picture in Syria.
However, Erdoğan said, Turkey cannot stay out of the US-led coalition against ISIL. The president also underscored that any military measure in the region must strengthen the opposition groups in Syria against the Assad regime.
Erdoğan has also accused the United Nations, other international organizations and other countries of supporting an unjust situation in Egypt. He said they have failed to recognize the toppling of the country's first freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi, as a military coup or the mass killings that resulted in 5,000 dead.
“How is it possible to give a platform to a person who is behind mass killings in his country?” asked Erdoğan, referring to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The former military chief of Egypt came to power after a coup that was followed by an election, which Turkey has not recognized as legitimate.
Erdoğan attended the annual UN summit last week and refused to sit at the same table as el-Sisi. He also criticized the UN for allowing el-Sisi to address the UN General Assembly last week.
Turkey fiercely criticized the coup that overthrew former Egyptian President Morsi last year. In his speech at the UN General Assembly, Erdoğan criticized the coup that paved the way for el-Sisi's eventual presidency and the world's inaction in the face of it.
"The United Nations as well as the democratic countries have done nothing but watch events, such as the overthrow of the elected president in Egypt and the killing of thousands of innocent people who wanted to defend their choice. And the person who carried out this coup is being legitimized,” Erdoğan said last week in New York.
“It's not possible for me to have my photo taken with someone who came to power through anti-democratic ways,” said Erdoğan at the World Economic Forum.
Erdoğan underscored that the anti-democratic regimes in the region and their brutal methods are leaving a dangerous legacy in the region and feeding terrorists who have become a growing threat to global peace.
The president also reiterated Turkey's call for the establishment of a “secure zone” inside Syria to repatriate the Syrian Kurds who fled to the Turkish side of the border to escape ISIL brutality.
Stressing that the UN needs to undergo a reform process, Erdoğan said the world is larger than the UN Security Council members. (Cihan/Today’s Zaman)