TURKEY: ERDOGAN URGES U.N. TO SET UP “INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY DAY AGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA”, HITS LEGITIMIZING OF “HATE SPEECH”
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
Erdogan’s obvious agenda in urging the United Nations to establish an “International Solidarity Day Against Islamophobia” is to try to weaken and ultimately destroy the freedom of speech. This is clearly much more important to him than the atrocities that are being committed against the Uighur Muslim population in China. As far as he is concerned, insulting Muhammad is worse than actually killing Muslims.
Erdogan, who seeks to revive the Ottoman Empire, blamed “politicians who turn to populist rhetoric for the sake of votes” for this supposed increase in hate speech. “He warned against groups who, he said ‘legitimize hate speech by abusing the freedom of expression.'”
Before Erdogan made his absurd request, President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro “urged the world to unite against ‘Christophobia,'” as an actual genocide of Christians is underway in Africa and the Middle East.
“Turkey’s Erdogan Demands U.N. Create ‘International Solidarity Day Against Islamophobia,’” by Frances Martel, Breitbart, September 22, 2020:
Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United Nations to establish “International Solidarity Day Against Islamophobia” during his speech at the General Assembly on Tuesday, claiming Muslims are the most vulnerable population to “racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and hate speech.”
Erdogan did not mention the world’s largest systematic human rights atrocity against Muslims — the imprisoning of between 1 to 3 million Muslims in concentration camps in China — during his remarks. Prior to joining dictator Xi Jinping’s lucrative “Belt and Road Initiative,” a Chinese global infrastructure program, Erdogan had referred to the treatment of Muslims in China as “genocide,” but has not similarly condemned China for its abuses in a decade.
The absence of mention of the situation in Xinjiang, China’s westernmost province, was especially notable given that the Muslim population of Xinjiang is largely Turkic — Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz people — and that Erdogan spoke immediately before Xi. Erdogan spoke after President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who urged the world to unite against “Christophobia.”
Brazil traditionally opens the U.N. General Assembly followed by the host nation, America.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations. In addition to the hallmark anniversary, the General Assembly is functioning slightly differently this year due to travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines to contain the Chinese coronavirus. World leaders stayed in their home countries and addressed the chamber in New York virtually.
“Racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and hate speech have reached an alarming level. In the course of the [Chinese coronavirus] pandemic, acts of violence against vulnerable people, especially migrants and asylum-seekers, accelerated while xenophobia and racism increased,” Erdogan claimed. “Muslims are the most exposed to these dangerous tendencies fueled by prejudice and ignorance.”
Erdogan, himself an Islamist populist politician, blamed “politicians who turn to populist rhetoric for the sake of votes” for this alleged rise in hate speech. He warned against groups who, he said “legitimize hate speech by abusing the freedom of expression.”
Under Erdogan, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranked Turkey the world’s number one jailer of journalists for three years in a row, 2016 to 2018. Xi’s China took the top spot from Turkey in 2019.
To fight this alleged racism and hate speech, Erdogan told the General Assembly that the United Nations should establish March 15 as the “International Solidarity Day Against Islamophobia.” March 15 is the anniversary of the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“I reiterate my call for March 15, the day of the terrorist attack perpetrated in New Zealand against Muslims, to be declared by the United Nations as ‘International Solidarity Day Against Islamophobia,’” Erdogan said. “As the second largest international organization after the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation [OIC] has officially recognized this day.”…
Erdogan also had harsh words for the growing number of nations seeking peace with Israel. While he did not name them — the most recent nations to formalize diplomatic with Israel are Turkey’s neighbors Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — Erdogan called any move in the region less than the establishment of a Palestinian state “vain, one-sided, and unjust.”…