ANKARA
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan touched on the problems in Islamic world by giving examples from Islamic history, saying "The name of the murderer is still Yazid, the name of the innocent is still Hussein".
Addressing to the MPs of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Tuesday, Turkish PM stated that the reason behind violent killings in Islamic geography was "the greed for power".
Erdogan spoke on the eve of the tenth day of Muharram, which is a mourning day for Muslimsas it is the day on which Prophet Mohammad`s grandson was martyred by the Umayyad caliph Yazid I.
In his speech, Erdogan resembled the rulers who are behind the violent murders in the Islamic world to Yazid.
"Just like the way Yazid`s greed for power spilled Hussein`s blood 1374 years ago, the same greed for power of some is still killing the innocent mercilessly. No matter in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq or Yemen, the name of the murderer is still the same: Yazid."
Erdogan also pointed out that violence has nothing to do with Islam.
Touching upon the reforms his party introduced to solve the problems of Alewites in Turkey, Erdogan said, "We have been building up Anatolian civilization with our Alewite brothers, sisters since 1071."
"Differences between the Sunni and the Alewite are paltry", said Erdogan, emphasizing the value both the Sunni poet Rumi and the Alewite Haji Bektash added to the Turkish cultural history.
Erdogan added, "Provocations by certain groups cannot harm our brotherhood which relies on our ancient togetherness".
'If we see the Alewite people as a source of vote just like some power-greedy circles and exploiters, we cannot solve our problems," he said, suggesting to overcome the problems by one-to-one, heart-to-heart communication.
Sivan Perwer and Ibrahim Tatlises will perform together
Erdogan also touched on his program in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir which is due on Saturday.
Erdogan announced that two famous singers of Kurdish descent, Ibrahim Tatlises and Sivan Perwer, will perform a duet in the opening ceremonies in Diyarbakir.
The duet will bring the two singers together for the first time. Perver lives in exile since he fleed Turkey in 1976.
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