Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the Muslim world to defend its rights together and cooperate more strongly. He made this during an event yesterday on the occasion of the Week of the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad (Mawlid al-Nabi) at the Halic Congress Center on the shores of the Golden Horn in Istanbul, reported “Hurriyet Daily News“, BTA reported.
“As Muslims, we must be strong and have deterrent capabilities, defend our rights and laws together and build peace and security in our region. "We cannot get anywhere by placing our hopes on others," the Turkish president was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet Daily News.
In a speech broadcast live on Turkish state broadcaster TRT, Erdogan stressed that Turkey was working to strengthen alliances and reduce divisions both at home and in the Islamic world.
He accused the Israeli government of trying to destabilize the region and criticized international institutions for failing to prevent civilian deaths in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.
"Millions of Palestinians are struggling to survive without basic necessities," the Turkish president said, describing Gaza as "the world's largest children's cemetery."
He said that because of the Israeli attacks in Lebanon has displaced 1.3 million people, killed over 4,000 people and injured over 12,000 people, most of them women and children.
“Neither global institutions nor the international community are able to demonstrate a strong will to prevent the massacres. We believe that unity is a virtue, so we are working to strengthen alliances and reduce disagreements, both among ourselves and within the Muslim world,“ Erdogan said.