AMP Report - April 25, 2018
Turkey hosts first World Muslims Minorities Summit
American Muslim Perspective Report
Turkey hosted the first World Muslim Minorities Summit in Istanbul from April 16 to April 19 under the title: Basic Problems, Solutions and Cooperation Opportunities."
More than 250 representatives from 100 countries, in which the Muslims are a minority, attended the Summit. The main objective of the summit was to connect and strengthen the relationship amongst Muslims as well as listening to their challenges and find ways to solve them together.
In his opening speech, President Erdoğan lashed out at the West for stoking anti-Islam sentiment in its bid "to impose its own ideology and lifestyle."
Known for his frank criticism of what he calls the hypocrisy of Western countries who are turning a blind eye to their histories of colonialism, President Erdoğan said they wanted to stain Islam through "terrorist groups engineered to accomplish that." The president said attacks against Muslims and refugees has become "an ordinary thing" in many countries championing democracy and law.
"Racists and fascist groups target businesses, homes and places of worships belonging to Muslims, particularly in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Belgium. Muslim women are harassed because they wear headscarves, for instance, in France," he said.
Erdoğan pointed to the multi-layered, multi-sided wave of attacks against Muslims in the post 9/11 period "through gangs with blood on their hands." "Terror attacks by Daesh, Boko Haram, al-Shabab, FETÖ, etc. both harm us and give opportunities to anti-Islam circles to defame Islam. They ask: 'How come Muslims do not shed blood? Isn't Islam a religion of peace?' They ignore the plight of Muslims and the slaying of Muslims by those groups. On the contrary, they hold Muslims accountable for these brutal murders. Most Western countries, in a bid to smokescreen their internal problems, stoke this fire," he said. He lashed out at "seemingly clean" countries with histories of massacres and immorality. "I asked one of them in a phone call recently why they didn't account for killing 5 million in Algeria," he said, referring to a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Minority summit panels
On the first day of the summit, a panel under the name “Minority Muslims within the frame of past and future perspective” was held. Prof. Dr Ali Erbas, President of Religious Affairs of Turkey, headed this panel together with other scholars and intellectuals in the field.
On the second day two panels were held, the first one under the title “Issues Pertaining to Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of Muslims Minorities and Proposed Solutions” under the Vice President of Religious Affairs, Selim Argun, and the second titled “Minorities Within the Scope of Self-Criticize Approach: Discursion, Insufficient Education, Absence of Political Representation, Introversion” under Prof. Murtaza Bedir, Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Istanbul University.
The panels of the third day were: “Demands and Needs of Muslims Minorities for Religious Services and Education” and “Demands and Needs of Muslims Minorities for Religious Publications”.
On the fourth and final day, a conclusion report (final declaration) was read out and the participants visited Istanbul's historical and cultural places.
The final declaration
The final declaration emphasized the compassionate character of Islam and its ability to answer the needs of the humans at a social and personal level at every time and in every situation.
Other important points of the declaration included:
"Islamophobic activities should be considered a crime against humanity"
Islamophobin is a treacherous and dark project that shows Islam as an ideology fostering violence and terror, and spreading it in a world of public fear, it has been noted that Islamophobic activities should be regarded as a crime against humanity.
It is a vital responsibility for all Muslims to work together to prevent the young people from falling into the hands of these subcontracting terrorist organizations, by showing that there are dirty interests behind organizations such as DEAŞ, Boko Haram, and co-Shabab, who exploit violent and terrorist practices by exploiting the immense concepts of Islam. .
"Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine for Muslims and will remain forever"
For all Muslims, Jerusalem, Palestine is the capital and emphasized that it will remain forever, and it is stated that Muslims and Palestinians will always be in favor of Muslims in the face of occupation and oppression throughout history and all oppressed people.
The Declaration states that the right of Islam to all human beings born, goods, mind, religion and descendants is protected by human rights and freedoms in all circumstances and conditions is important for peace, security, peace and stability in the world. It has been expressed that the resolution of the problems in the dimension will be possible if the principles of right, law, mercy and mercy are reunited with humanity.
"FETO is a global threat and arousing for Muslim existence"
The final declaration stated that FETÖ (Fethullahçı Terör Örgütü; abbreviation: FETÖ) is a sneaky and dark terrorist organization established as global deep structures, Islamic geography, corruption, denial, and terrorism. It is a global threat and misfortune for both the Islamic religion and all the Muslims on earth.
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