Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday praised
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for emphasising the
difference between Islam and terror, after the billionaire social
network tycoon posted a message defending Muslims against
discrimination.
Erdogan, who once threatened to ban
Facebook in his country, used his
official page on the website to respond
to Zuckerberg both in Turkish and in
English.
“I highly value Mark Zuckerberg’s
message for pointing out the profound
difference between Islam and
terrorism since these two concepts are
often mentioned in the same breath
these days,” he wrote.
“As I always express on different
platforms, Islam is a religion of peace.
Murderous networks that abuse Islam
for their self-serving goals are
massacring innocent people every day,
particularly Muslims.”
In a Facebook post on Wednesday,
Zuckerberg said that the Muslim
community should not have to fear
being “persecuted for the actions of
others” following attacks in Paris and
elsewhere carried out by Islamic
extremists.
“If you’re a Muslim in this community,
as the leader of Facebook I want you to
know that you are always welcome
here and that we will fight to protect
your rights and create a peaceful and
safe environment for you,” he said.
The supportive message came just
days after Republican presidential
candidate Donald Trump caused
international outrage by demanding a
ban on Muslims travelling to the
United States.
Erdogan, who was elected president
last August after ruling Turkey as
premier for over a decade, has in the
past made no secret of his disdain for
social media, vowing to “eradicate”
Twitter ahead of local elections in
March 2014.
The government blocked Twitter and
YouTube days before March 2014 local
elections after they were used to
spread a torrent of audio recordings
implicating Erdogan and his inner
circle in an alleged corruption scandal.
He had at the time raised the option of
a ban on Facebook, arguing that his
opponents were using the social media
site to attack him.
But the Turkish strongman appears to
have softened his stance in recent
times.
His official Facebook page is now used
regularly to post his speeches and
statements, while Erdogan in February
even finally began tweeting from the
official handle @RT_Erdogan.
