Turkish PM Erdoğan: ‘Islamophobia’ Should Be Recognized As Crime Against Humanity

Daniel 7:25a, “And he shall speak [great] words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws …”

Today’s Zaman – “Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stated that Turkey recognizes anti-semitism as a crime, while not a single Western country recognizes Islamophobia as such.

Speaking to journalists in Sarajevo after a series of visits to Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Erdoğan commented on the 14-minute trailer for ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ an obscure film that mocks the Prophet Muhammad, which sparked violent riots across various Muslim nations.

Erdoğan said he will talk about the movie that has angered Muslims on Sept. 25 at the UN General Assembly. He noted that the reaction against the movie in Turkey has been restrained. ‘In the last past 10 years, extremes [in Turkey] have been curbed. In a way, we acted like a lightning rod.’

He said the Turkish government has made its statement on the movie, giving messages in Yalta, and later during his visit. He said reactions against the movie continued and increased, noting statements from Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi, who defined the movie as an ‘aggression on Islam,’ has played a role in this.

Erdoğan said he will continue to give messages at the next UN General Assembly meeting about adopting international legislation against insulting religion. ‘I am the prime minister of a nation, of which most are Muslims and that has declared anti-semitism a crime against humanity. But the West hasn’t recognized Islamophobia as a crime against humanity — it has encouraged it. [The film director] is saying he did this to provoke the fundamentalists among Muslims. When it is in the form of a provocation, there should be international legal regulations against attacks on what people deem sacred, on religion. As much as it is possible to adopt international regulations, it should be possible to do something in terms of domestic law.'” Read more.

Egypt PM to America: Change Your Laws So That Those Who Insult Islam ‘Pay For What They Do’, Sanitize Your Western Media – “When the prime minister was asked whether the US should make amendments to its laws governing freedom of speech and expression, he replied,’I think we need to work out something around this because we cannot wait and see this happen again.’ Qandil also called on the US ‘to take the necessary measures to ensure insulting billions of people – one and a half billion people – and their beliefs does not happen and people pay for what they do and at the same time make sure that the reflections of the true Egyptian and Muslims is well [represented] in Western media.'” Read more.