Türkiye urges UN to combat Islamophobia
ANKARA
Türkiye's Deputy Foreign Minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay on Monday advocated for the appointment of a U.N. special envoy to address the growing issue of Islamophobia.
"Hatred against Islam, racism, xenophobia, discrimination, and far-right hate speech are rising. Hardly a day goes by without hostility against and violations of fundamental rights of Muslims, including attacks on their lives, mosques, and the Holy Quran," Mehmet Kemal Bozay said in an address to a high-level segment of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"U.N. resolutions defining burning of holy books as religious hatred are significant, but more steps are needed. A U.N. special envoy to combat Islamophobia should soon be appointed," Bozay urged.
Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attributed the stalling of Türkiye's EU membership process to “Islamophobic” approaches.
“We have a long-standing membership process with the European Union. Recently, however, the negotiations have been frozen due to the EU's identity politics and its reservations about including a large Muslim country. This is not openly stated, but this is the reality,” he said.
In this process, Fidan drew attention to the increasing influence of BRICS countries in global balances and emphasized the importance of this structure as an alternative cooperation platform.
