“ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS” CONF. OPENS IN ISTANBUL
By Sa’ad Abdul Majid, IOL Correspondent

Islam Online, Qatar
Sept 26 2005

“If there is terrorism today, then it has nothing to do with any
divine religion,” said Erdogan.

ISTANBUL, September 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has opened an inter-civilization conference in
Istanbul amid charges of conspiracy and anti-Islam from some Islamists.

Addressing the plenary session of the three-day “Meeting of
Civilizations” conference, Erdogan hit out Sunday, September 25,
at equating Islam with terrorism.

“If there is terrorism today, then it has nothing to do with
any divine religion,” he said strongly. “Any talk about ‘Islamic
terrorism’ or ‘Muslim terrorists’ is indeed some sort of ignorance
and is unacceptable.”

The leader of the ruling Justice and Development party further called
anew for criminalizing Islamophobia on a par with anti-Semitism,
and for reconciliation between Muslims and Jews by letting bygones
be bygones.

Erdogan said the conference, which brought together delegations from up
to 30 European and Mideast countries including Israel, is the result of
cooperation with his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The alliance initiative was first unveiled by the Spanish premier at
the UN General Assembly in New York in September of last year.

The initiative was later co-sponsored by Erdogan in a March summit
between both leaders.

Erdogan appointed his chief foreign policy adviser Rafet Akgunay as
Turkey’s representative in the project.

Spain in return has appointed retired ambassador Maximo Cajal to
the initiative.

“Conspiracy”

Critics say Turkey is courting the West to join the euro bloc.

(Reuters)

Some Islamists, however, faulted Erdogan for hosting the conference
which they called a “conspiracy against Islam.”

Erdogan’s speech was heckled by some of the audience, who shouted
anti-US slogans and accused Erdogan’s party of being “an agent”.

The deputy head of the opposition Saadet party, Tamel Oglo, has charged
that the conference was a “Western ploy dictated on the Justice and
Development party.”

He further said the conference is part of what he called an “organized
campaign against Islam led by the United States under the guise of
inter-faith dialogue and religious tolerance.”

Mohamet Silay, a former MP for the outlawed Virtue party, told Turkish
newspaper Milli Gazete that the proposed “Alliance of Civilizations”
was helping entrench the US Broader Middle East and North Africa
initiative, which serves best the interests of Israel.

The Islamic current’s Andadulu Youths magazine further held Sunday a
seminar entitled “Saladin…The Architect of Peace in the Middle East”
to counter the conference.

They urged the government not to bow to Western pressure and to rather
adhere to nationalist viewpoints.

Pundits say that Turkey is trying to play a key role in bridging the
gap between the West and the Muslim world as part of its tireless
efforts to join the enlarged European Union.

They cited a controversial conference hosted by Istanbul September
24-25 on the alleged massacre of thousands of Armenians by Turks
during and after World War One.

The conference sparked mass rallies with nationalist demonstrators
hurling eggs and tomatoes at participants as they arrived at Istanbul’s
private Bilgi University for the conference.

Reports further spoke about Turkey’s role in normalization of relations
between Israel and Muslim countries, chiefly Pakistan.

Well-placed sources told Turkey’s NTV network earlier in the month
that Israel was planning to open interest sections at the Turkish
embassy in a number of Islamic countries.

Turkey is due to begin EU entry talks on October 3, though it is not
seen joining the bloc before 2015 at the earliest.