Denial in Turkey
Erdogan dismisses that terror could be motivated by Islam
By Robert
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan has chimed in to denounce the Beslan atrocities as un-Islamic. But he seems to be more concerned about Western analyses of terrorism than about the terrorism itself: "I do not want to see the word 'Islam' or 'Islamist' in front of the word 'terrorism.'" Very well, Erdogan. So what are you doing to stop radical Muslims from doing violence in the name of Islam? From the Turkish Daily News, with thanks to Nicolei:
The premier dismissed that the act of terror could be linked to Islam or Chechens as a whole, saying there could be no terrorism described as "Islamic."
Suspicion fell upon Chechen militants for the three-day hostage-taking seige, which ended on Friday following clashes between Russian commandos and the hostage takers that left as many as 400 people dead.
"Terrorism has no religion, race or nationality. It has taken up an international dimension. If you call it 'Chechen terrorism', then this would lead a Russian to consider all Chechens as terrorists. Similarly, one can see we Turks are sometimes perceived differently in the West because some people there tend to blame all Turks for a wrong act done by one Turk," Erdogan said in an interview with private ATV television on Friday night.
"I do not want to see the word 'Islam' or 'Islamist' in front of the word 'terrorism'," Erdogan said. Instead, he complained there was not yet an international platform created against terrorism, as states were still comfortable with the mentality of "let the snake not harming me live long" and efforts to address "root causes" of terrorism, mainly poverty, were not sufficient. |
