Islamabad, Oct 14, IRNA – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that hidden forces are behind all the terrorist activities in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.
Addressing gatherings of flood-affected people in southern Sindh and central Punjab provinces on Wednesday, Erdogan said that Turkey is deeply concerned about the incidents of terrorism in Pakistan.
Erdogan paid a two-day visit to Pakistan to express solidarity over the recent devastating floods, which killed over 1800 people and affected 20 millions.
“Today Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey are targets of terrorism and we need joint efforts to tackle the problem of terrorism,” he said.
The Turkish Prime Minister said that those involved in acts of terrorism could not be the followers of Islam as our religion preaches peace and brotherhood.
“Ours is the religion of peace and teaches protecting the life of people but today we see people indulged in killing of innocent masses and I don’t think they are Muslims,” he said.
Erdogan appealed to the people of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey not to be a part of any conspiracy and prevent from indulging in any act of terrorism if they consider themselves as Muslims and added that Turkey was facing the menace of terrorism for the last three decades.
“Once we overcome the problem, Pakistan and neighbouring countries like Afghanistan and Iran will emerge stronger in the region and we need joint efforts in this regard,” Erdogan said.
Mentioning the atrocities of Israeli soldiers on Turkish passengers at Freedom Flotilla vessel, the Turkish Prime Minister called for apology for the incident and said the US wrongly favoured Israel.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on the occasion lauded the principled stand of Turkey seeking Israeli’s apology on Freedom Flotilla killings and said Islamabad also stood by Turkey