Also available in the following languages: Spanish, German
[
This is an unofficial English translation of the original Turkish
speech
]
Mr. President, Honourable Ministers, Esteemed representatives, today, we
have come together under this roof, which has been established as the
“Parliament of humanity’s conscience”, in order to address a growing threat
for all of us and to display a common stance against this common threat.
Today, the United Nations General Assembly brings us together around the
sanctity of human life, which is our fundamental asset. However, this
fundamental asset is under the open attack of terrorists and terrorism. On
March 15th in Christchurch, New Zealand, when fifty-one Muslims,
praying there were martyred and many others wounded by a fascist and
barbarian terrorist, who had a highly organized mind and planning behind
him, he targeted essentially the common values of humanity.
Today, we are displaying a very meaningful solidarity right here, in order
to condemn this anti-Islamic and anti-human attack and to commemorate the
victims of this attack. Today we stand firm against terrorists and give the
world the following message: you are going to fade away in the spiral of
hatred, hate, fear and violence you are trying to spur and you will never
succeed. Here, under the roof of the United Nations General Assembly, the
manifestation of this determination by the representatives of every faith,
every geography, every race and nationality is the most meaningful response
to your dirty ideologies and heinous attacks.
Most esteemed representatives, in the name of the Turkish people, I extend
my sincere condolences to the families of the innocent people who were
brutally murdered in their sacred places of worship. I also address once
more our condolences to the Government and people of New Zealand. Right
immediately after the terrorist attacks, our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
has tasked our Vice President and myself to visit New Zealand, in order to
show our solidarity. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Ms. Ardern and
her Government, we ourselves witnessed the strong stance and dignity of the
people of New Zealand, and also how they embraced the Muslim community
living in their country.
As you all know, Turkey is a country that has fought with extreme
determination for years against all forms of terrorism, both at national
and global level. Today, we are conducting a relentless and determined
struggle against both DAESH and PKK-PYD-YPG, as well as DHKP-C and FETÖ, at
the same time. Strengthening efforts to combat terrorism at a global level
will always continue to be one of Turkey's utmost priorities. With this
understanding, as the Summit Chairman of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation, we organized an Organization of Islamic Cooperation Emergency
Executive Committee Meeting on March 22nd in Istanbul. As we
also emphasized it in the joint communiqué of the meeting, regardless of
their motivation, wherever and by whoever they are committed, and no matter
whom they target, no acts of terror can be excused or justified. The
tragedy of the Christchurch attack has shown to the world that intolerance,
racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia are feeding much bigger threats to all
humanity than expected. These facts are undoubtedly linked. Islamophobia
and racism are often intertwined. The racist, xenophobic, anti-Islamic
rhetoric and violence can no longer be ignored. The international
community, including the United Nations General Assembly, cannot be deemed
to be exempted from this responsibility. The common voice of humanity
against xenophobia and racism must be heard. Therefore, exactly here and
right now, we have to declare a global mobilization that emphasizes,
including immigrants, minorities and all believers, we stand united as part
of humanity.
It should be announced that no tolerance will ever be shown to any form of
racism, including anti-Islam, anti-Semitism and anti-Christianity. We
should keep in mind that in a world where even one person is not safe, none
of us can be safe. We should approach the issue from this point of view,
and remember that we can only deal with common threats if we show a common
awareness and determination.
Honourable Ministers, esteemed representatives, no matter where in the
world, the radicalization process that feeds terrorism and acts of terror
is based on illusory and distorted historical narratives and poisonous
conspiracy theories.
It shouldn't be disregarded that reckless politicians and media outlets
that insist on defining Islam as terrorism are among the factors that feed
this terrorist attack. We once again deny and condemn, under this platform,
such impertinent, unjust and deliberate approaches trying to portray our
sublime religion Islam, which means peace itself, and terrorism side by
side.
We must all together refuse all the concepts such as Islamic terrorism,
Christian terrorism, Jewish terrorism or Buddhist terrorism. Terrorism has
no religion, language, race, nationality. Terrorism is a crime against
humanity. It is the common responsibility of politics and the media to
comprehend this truth and to lead to a common understanding for all. It is
high time to take effective measures against rising injustice, prejudice,
discrimination, intolerance, hate crimes and hate speech. We cannot and
must not allow these horrific tendencies to poison our societies and lead
to violence. In this direction, we must apply our current legislation
effectively and develop new legal regulations. It is an absolute necessity
to mobilize all elements of the society, opinion-makers, political leaders,
media and digital media actors. We must ensure that those who trigger,
perpetrate, finance and support terrorist acts are brought to account. In
this respect, it is of vital importance to monitor, record and report hate
crimes.
Esteemed representatives, honourable Ministers; our world is going through
a rare period of uncertainty and change. Conflicts are getting more and
more complicated. Peace at home and peace in the world are still
interconnected in all countries. Turning a blind eye to threats to peace
and not using all the means of the UN General Assembly would be the worst
response we can give against the challenges we are faced with. That is
exactly why we are gathered together to adopt the resolution we submitted
jointly, which is numbered A/73/L.79 and titled “Combating terrorism and
other acts of violence based on religion or belief”. This resolution will
give the following messages to the international community: each and every
kind of discrimination and terrorism is a global threat. We have a single,
consistent and clear principle of justice, without double standards or
ambiguity. We regard anti-Islam, anti-Semitism and anti-Christianity as
crimes against humanity. We resolutely denounce and condemn all kinds of
discrimination and terrorism. We commit to never sinking into pessimism and
to combining our powers. This meeting and the adoption of our resolution
will be a turning point and a milestone for the international community and
constitute a basic roadmap for everyone. I would like to thank Mr.
Guterres, the Secretary General, for his meaningful call on the UN Alliance
of Civilizations initiative and the High Commissioner to develop an action
plan to prevent attacks on religious sites and to safeguard the holiness of
these sites. As one of its founders, we know very well the potential of
this initiative.
Before concluding, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the
President of the General Assembly, Ms. Espinosa and his Vice-President,
Ambassador Al Thani, who has been with us today, and to the member states,
for their strong support and solidarity. I urge the General Assembly to
affirm firmly our common resolution to fight against all prejudices,
discriminations, intolerance, violence, hatred, racism and terrorism all
over the world. I would like to end my speech by reminding the invitation
of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi (Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi), who lived in
Anatolia eight hundred years ago and embraced all humanity with his
messages.
Listen with ears of tolerance,
See with eyes of compassion,
Speak the language of love…
I thank you very much.