Turkish think tank condemns New Zealand terror attacks

By Nilay Kar Onum

ISTANBUL (AA) – Istanbul-based Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) condemned Friday’s terror attacks in New Zealand, saying such incidents “deserve an urgent and global response.”

At least 50 people were killed as a gunman opened fire on worshippers during Friday prayers at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in an incident live streamed on social media.

In a written statement, CIGA affiliated with Istanbul Zaim University said: “Friday's unconscionable attacks on Muslim congregants in Christchurch, New Zealand, have bred great sadness and fear in the hearts of many Muslims and non-Muslims around the world.”

“Perhaps most striking is the ominous familiarity connecting the Christchurch shootings with the recent bigoted attacks in Charleston, South Carolina and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Christian and Jewish congregants.

“The influence of racist, fascist, ethnocentric jingoism on all such terrible incidents is both grave and deserving of an urgent, global response from intellectual, social, political, and religious leaders,” it said.

In the statement, the public policy institution announced that it would host the 2nd International Conference on Islamophobia between April 12-14.

“Leading scholars and thinkers will join CIGA to answer some of the most pressing questions about the state of Islamophobia today, its connection to various forms of anti-Muslim and anti-religious violence, and the mechanisms and conditions which perpetuate it and its many concomitant horrors,” it said.

Stating that it was “not enough to condemn bigotry if we ever hope to tackle it,” the statement wrote: “For our part, we here at CIGA will continue to work toward a future where the tragedies of the present cease to endure.”