Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Today, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking at the fifth religious council, said it is wrong to use religion as a political tool.
Erdogan doesn't agree with the opinion correlating serious problems in some Muslim countries (economic and political backwardness) with Islam.
At the same time, touching upon Islamophobia growing in the West and in some Muslim countries, Erdogan stressed that the Islamophobia is on the same plane as fascism.
Increasingly frequent and open use of the topic of religion by political leaders emphasizes its growing importance in human life and with it religion has become more manipulated for political purposes.
On the other hand, the crimes, committed today in many regions "in the name of Allah", are regrettable and lead to the growth of Islamophobia among Muslims.
Undoubtedly, the rise of Islamophobia can be attributed to a number of social and political issues inherent to predominately Muslim countries but one of these reasons doesn't spring from the Islamic world.
Rather it is a harsh and radical response to the policies pursued by the West against Muslims, and in many cases has created conditions for the spread of Islamophobia.
It must be recognized that the main cause of the spread of Islamophobia in the West and the Islamic world is the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group's activity in Iraq and Syria.
The military operations held today and the methods of struggle against the "Islamic State" have proven to be virtually ineffective. First of all because it will not be possible to eradicate this terrorist group only using military means.
It will be impossible as prolonged military operations will only provoke an increase in the number of the supporters of the group and force greater changes in existing political structures that are not in the interests of the sides fighting against terrorism.
At the same time, along with military operations, it is necessary to combat terrorism with an information war and reduce factors contributing to radicalism. It is necessary to recognize that at this point in time, the "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group is still winning the information war. This victory is a double-edge sword in that it not only serves the interest of the terrorist group but spreads Islamophobia.
Another reason for an increase in the number of supporters of the "IS" group, in particular, from the Arab countries, is in connection to the lack of strong political will in these countries, the existence of political gaps, compounded by social problems. The growing number of "caliphate" supporters can not be reduced or eliminated in the Arab countries until these problems are solved.
According to official information, around 3,000 "volunteers" from Tunisia have joined the "caliphate", 2,500 - from Saudi Arabia, 2,089 - from Jordan, and1,500 from Morocco, not to mention the many Europeans joining the "IS" terrorist group. Recent data shows around 412 people from France joined the "IS", 296 from Belgium, 240 from Germany, 152 from the Netherlands, 132 from the US and 20 from Israel.
As we can see, Muslim countries alone do not make up the rank and file on this list of IS members. This makes one wonder if the West putting pressure on other countries under the pretext of "democracy" and "freedom of expression" and "human rights", must reconsider this fact and its policy in relation to other countries. Otherwise, the "caliphate" and erroneous Islamic thinking can outweigh these values.
Edited by CN
---
Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
