The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a press release yesterday in response to a statement of Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece as reported by ert.gr. The Turkish Foreign Ministry strongly disapproved of the statements of Archbishop Ieronymos, calling them “groundless” and “an insult to the religion of Islam.”
In the press release, it mentioned that “We strongly condemn the presumptuous statements of Ieronimos, the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, against Islam during a television interview.
Our divine religion Islam is a religion of peace based on an understanding of tolerance and compassion that ensures the coexistence of different religions and civilizations.
Under the conditions of pandemic that has encompassed the whole world, while everyone should strive for developing an environment of mutual respect and tolerance, defamation of our sacred religion is regrettable.
It is exemplary for the religious leaders, who should serve peace, to poison societies with such groundless statements. These provocative expressions of Archbishop Ieronimos, which incite the society to hostility and violence against Islam, also show the frightening level Islamophobia has reached.
Such malign ideas are also responsible for the increase of racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia in Europe. The fact that such a statement was made at a time when preliminary preparations are being made for exploratory talks is also meaningful and is an unfortunate step towards undermining the process.”
The head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs of Turkey, Ali Erbas, also reacted strongly to the statements of Archbishop Ieronymos about Islam. He accused him of slandering and targeting Islam as reported by ert.gr.
“I strongly condemn the groundless statements made by the Greek Archbishop Ieronymos in a recent interview, which are full of slander and target our beautiful religion, Islam, and Muslims,” Ali Erbas said in a written statement.
“The statement of Archbishop Ieronymos is a provocation for society and leads people to hatred, intolerance and violence against our supreme religion, Islam. It is very unfortunate and unacceptable that he made such statements, which run contrary to his office, at a time when the representative of a religion should encourage people to distance themselves away from controversy and conflict and send messages of peaceful coexistence and tolerance. I also want to state that the Christian world should oppose this sick view. This kind of expression aimed at marginalizing Muslims, fuels racism against Muslims and leads to attacks on their lives and places of worship,” said Ali Erbas.
“The attitudes and reasons that do not marginalize each other in the history of humankind will always remain valuable and the common sense of the faithful will always prevail against such statements. Peace, tranquility, prosperity, compassion, justice and virtue cannot be consolidated in conflict but in coexistence. Islamic culture is a great culture that has always allowed people of different religions and cultures to live together for centuries and has given everyone the right to live according to their beliefs. It is a religion of peace that aims to fulfill high values, such as justice, peace and prosperity,” said the head of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs.
It is recalled that the Archbishop’s statements were made in his recent television interview about the Church’s contribution to the Revolution of 1821 and the Archdiocese of Athens issued yesterday a clarifying statement, emphasizing that the Archbishop meant “nothing more than the distortion of the Muslim religion itself by a handful of extreme fundamentalists, who wreak death and destruction all over the world.”
