Turkish PM vows to defend all faiths, ‘even Buddhism’

ANKARA

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu speaks during his party's parliamentary group meeting on Nov. 11. DHA Photo

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has vowed to defend all religions, “even Buddhism,” if they are stigmatized in school textbooks.

In his weekly address to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies in Parliament on Nov. 11, Davutoğlu slammed the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for trying to “fight against religion.”

“The CHP says we should abolish religious education classes. They propose to remove the term ‘religious.’ Fighting against religion is in their heads, as it has always been,” he said.

“If any sect is offended in religious culture and ethics classes, not only Christianity but even Buddhism, then I would be the first to oppose it,” the prime minister also vowed.

Referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Davutoğlu reiterated his argument that correct religious education is a must to deal with “radical tendencies, including the radicalism of ISIL.”