Turkish presidential board discusses Islamophobia, xenophobia

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired a meeting of the Presidential High Advisory Board on Wednesday.

Following the two-and-half hour meeting, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said in a statement that the board members discussed the issues of xenophobia and Islamophobia, which are on the rise in Western societies, and the situation the Islamic world is in.

In the meeting, President Erdogan said the racist, discriminatory and barbaric face of the West began to reveal itself with the dropping of the mask of democracy, freedom and human rights it has been hiding behind for a long time, the statement said.

It noted that in the meeting, Erdogan said the practices of massacres, cruelty, oppression, occupation and fanaticism against Muslims are being observed in different geographies from Myanmar to East Turkistan and from the Balkans and the Caucasus to Palestine, adding the most grave and hurtful scenes are being witnessed in the Islamic geography.

"The board members exchanged views with regards to issues concerning efforts to fight against shadowy organizations whose ideological foundations do not stem from the core values of the religion and to strengthen the unity and solidarity of the Islamic world by eliminating its internal tensions," Altun said in the statement.