President Erdoğan meets with representatives of religious minorities
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with representatives of religious minorities in Türkiye during an iftar dinner at the Presidential Complex.
Making a speech at the dinner, President Erdoğan voiced his pleasure over meeting with the invitees around an iftar table where they are breathing the spiritual atmosphere of the month of Ramadan, and said: “I believe that the picture of unity and solidarity displayed here is very meaningful today when the agenda of humanity is set by wars, conflicts, separations, pains and oppressions.”
“YOU ARE ALSO REPRESENTATIVES OF TÜRKİYE’S MULTICULTURAL AND MULTI-FAITH SOCIAL STRUCTURE”
Stating that the Anatolian land is a geography where civilizations meet, different faiths get on with each other and mosques, churches and synagogues located in the same street befit one another, President Erdoğan said: “And this evening, the treasured representatives of different communities, including Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Jew, Assyrian and Catholic, have come together around the same table. I thank each and every one of you for accepting our invitation. I would especially like to stress hereby that you are the representatives of not just your communities, but also Türkiye’s multicultural and multi-faith social structure. There is a culture of co-existence in the nature of these lands. There is mutual respect in the spirit of these lands. There is brotherhood in the memory of these lands.”
“TÜRKİYE IS AN EXEMPLARY COUNTRY WHERE EVERYONE HAS FREEDOM OF RELIGION”
Underscoring that the Assyrian Church, which have been opened for worship in Yeşilköy, Istanbul, is one of the strong symbols of the environment of religious freedoms in Türkiye, President Erdoğan drew attention to some international circles’ unfair criticism at Türkiye regarding religious freedoms, and added: “The words of those, who place anti-Türkiye sentiment at the center of their politics, have no value for us. Türkiye is an exemplary country where everyone has freedom of religion and conscience, exercises their faiths freely, communities can make their own institutions live and mutual respect prevails.”
“ISLAMOPHOBIA THREATENS THE CULTURE OF CO-EXISTENCE”
Further stating that today the world is unfortunately faced with such serious problems as discrimination, hatred speech and marginalization, President Erdoğan continued as follows: “Especially Islamophobia, which is on the rise in recent years, blatantly threatens both our people and the culture of co-existence. We as Türkiye are against every kind of discrimination, and we are determinedly putting up its struggle both at home and abroad. Likewise, we have no tolerance against such dark groups as DAESH, which bomb anywhere, be it a mosque, church or synagogue, and which do not respect even places of worship. As I always say, antisemitism is as a crime against humanity as Islamophobia, and an unacceptable and illegitimate malice. Our goal is clear. We have and will inshallah build a Türkiye where everyone living on these lands feels themselves equal, free and safe.”
