Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz spoke at the First Forum of Muslim Diasporas in the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, held in Ankara. The forum, held on Tuesday, was convened under the theme “From Roots to New Paths.”
Yılmaz said the Netanyahu government was the party putting everyone, including Jews who oppose the policies of the Israeli government, in a difficult position and under suspicion.
Call for solidarity among Muslim communities
Yılmaz said the approach to Muslim diasporas should be shaped around fraternity and solidarity. He said this approach should enable communities to contribute to the societies where they live while preserving their identities.
Yılmaz said the number of Muslims worldwide had exceeded 2 billion and noted that more than half of this population was under 25. He said citizens of Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries numbering more than 60 million had formed a broad diaspora network spread across different continents.
Emphasis on Gaza and Palestine
Commenting on developments in Gaza, Yılmaz said the Netanyahu government was being tried in international courts on charges of genocide. He said the United Nations’ inability to implement its decisions, the weakening of international law and the protection of those who commit crimes showed the weakness of the global system’s capacity to deliver justice.
Yılmaz said Türkiye would continue delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza and defending the Palestinian cause on international platforms. He called on Muslim diasporas to bring Gaza’s voice to the public and decision-makers, and said solidarity with Palestinians should be turned into more effective and visible action.
Call for a common stance against Islamophobia
Yılmaz said attacks on mosques and the Quran, along with hate speech and discriminatory practices, showed that anti-Muslim sentiment had evolved beyond individual prejudice into a structural threat affecting politics, the media and public life.
Yılmaz stressed that freedom of expression did not mean the freedom to spread hate speech or insult what is sacred. He opposed the use of accusations of “antisemitism” to silence criticism of the Israeli government’s actions. He said the Republic of Türkiye and Turkish civilization had not been antisemitic in the past and would not be so in the future.
Yılmaz said continuous communication should be established between Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries and Muslim diaspora institutions. He called for fragmented responses to Islamophobia to be turned into a common stance and for Muslims’ struggle for their rights to be strengthened.
Yılmaz said he hoped the “Declaration on Muslim Diasporas,” which was planned for adoption at the forum, would create a roadmap for protecting communities’ rights, combating Islamophobia and improving their economic and social opportunities.
Ersoy: Gaza is a test for the shared conscience
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said what he described as Israel’s genocide in Gaza constituted a major test for the shared human conscience and sense of justice before the eyes of the world.
Ersoy said Gaza should serve as an important reminder for Islamic countries and diasporas to get to know one another better and strengthen their capacity to act together in various areas, particularly culture, language, production and consumption.
Ersoy said Muslim diasporas played a central role in explaining the Palestinian struggle to the world and expressed his appreciation for their positions in support of Palestine. He noted that millions of Muslims spread across different regions of the world interacted with the values of the societies where they lived while preserving their cultural and historical roots.
Ersoy said the unification of Muslim diasporas around shared values and cultural ties could turn them into an effective soft power on a global scale. He said diasporas contributed to the economy, science, the arts, entrepreneurship and public services.
