We must have common voice against terrorism: Turkish FM

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday urged nations to reject all forms of terrorism and said Islamophobia is a big threat to the world.

Cavusoglu spoke at the United Nation's 73rd plenary meeting, where a draft resolution was introduced on the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, and xenophobia.

"Islamophobia and racism go hand in hand," Cavusoglu said, referring to the Christchurch attacks in New Zealand, where a white nationalist terrorist killed at least 50 Muslim worshippers.

"We cannot ignore violence," he said. "We have to have one common voice against these acts of violence."

Turkey's top diplomat also told the UN that terrorism should not be associated with any religion.

"We should all reject the use of words such as Islamic terrorism, Christian terrorism, Jewish terrorism or Buddhist terrorism," Cavusoglu said.

He added that the ideology of terrorism " have a religion, a language, a race, or nation."