Turkish urges tolerance toward Muslims

[Sis786]

Turkish urges tolerance toward Muslims

By JAN SLIVA, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jun 28, 3:11 PM ET



Turkey's prime minister urged the West on Wednesday to make a concerted effort to lessen tensions with Muslim societies, saying more tolerance is needed to mend a deepening rift with the Islamic world.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last year's angry protests over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad reveal a need to discuss limits to free expression in some cases to keep extremists from exploiting growing polarization.

"Islamophobia and xenophobia are gaining ground in the West. In the Muslim world, on the other hand, there is a widening perception that it is besieged and its values are under attack. The combination of these trends threaten to turn the West and the Islamic world into adversaries," Erdogan said in a speech to the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights body.

"The way we see anti-Semitism as a crime against humanity, we need to see Islamophobia as a crime against humanity," he told the council's parliamentary assembly, made up of lawmakers from various European countries.

The 12 Prophet Muhammad cartoons, first published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten daily last September, were reprinted by dozens of newspapers and Web sites in Europe and elsewhere. Muslims worldwide denounced the drawings, one of which showed Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

Furious anti-Danish protests spread across the Muslim world, and rioters torched Danish embassies.

"All freedoms have a limit. You cannot have unlimited freedoms," Erdogan said. "We argue freedom of expression can be restricted, and this has to be defined."

He warned of a possible rise in terrorism if the West ignores cultural differences and does not respect Islamic values.

"Terrorism perpetrated in the name of religion will lead the world to a global crisis," he warned.

Turkey, a mostly Muslim country and U.S. ally that feels increasingly frustrated in its bid for European Union membership, is under pressure from the EU to enhance freedom of expression, religious freedoms and cultural rights for its Kurdish minority.

But Erdogan argued that freedom of expression can be curbed in order to prevent individuals from inciting terrorism and hatred for other cultures.

"There has never been unlimited freedom of expression in history," he said.

The Turkish leader said that while the size of Europe's Muslim population is increasing, Muslim communities are being marginalized, which causes problems in cities such as London and Paris.

He said integrating those communities requires efforts from both sides. European countries, he said, "need to show more affection to the people living in ghettos and integrate them into the society."