Erdogan proposes Muslim cooperation against terrorism

By Tuncay Kayaoglu

ISTANBUL

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday proposed a body within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to solidify and institutionalize cooperation against terrorism.

“Once again, I call on the international bodies to review their approaches to terrorist organizations. It is necessary to conduct operations against terror organizations on the ground, while there should [also] be efforts to target those organizations' financial and human resources,” Erdogan said in his opening speech at the 13th Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul.

“For that, international cooperation is vital. Establishing a body that would solidify and institutionalize cooperation against terror within the OIC is the right step to take”.

Turkey is now hosting the OIC summit for the first time since the body’s inception in 1969.

Turkey will take over the bloc’s chair for the next two years during the summit, which will be held under the theme “Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace”.

The two-day summit is set to strengthen unity and solidarity between Muslim countries in the fight against terrorism.

Erdogan thanked member countries for helping support the establishment of the OIC’s new police cooperation and coordination center in Istanbul.

Saying that terror is one of the gravest problems facing the Islamic world, Erdogan decried the devastation of Afghanistan, in which hundreds of thousands Muslims were killed and millions of them were mistreated by al-Qaeda.

“Now Daesh, which controls certain places in Iraq and Syria and tries to get control of Libya, serves the same dirty plans. We see Boko Haram and Al Shabaab, which conduct terror attacks in Africa, in the same category. Apart from a few attacks for show, all these terror organizations oppress and harm all Muslims,” Erdogan stressed.

Erdogan maintained that these terror organizations do not represent Islam. “Our religion is a religion of peace and compromise,” Erdogan added.

During his talks, the Turkish leader also backed a Saudi-backed alliance to fight against terror and said that alliance should turn into an operational body.

Erdogan said that Islamic world should deal with terror and other crisis themselves instead of waiting for “other powers to intervene.”

“We need to intervene and solve. When we don’t, others intervene,” he said, adding that if the alliance becomes active, a new era in front of Muslim countries would open.

The Turkish leader also stressed that Muslims need to overcome “the instigation of sectarianism”.

“My religion is neither Sunni nor Shia. My religion is Islam,” said Erdogan.