Associated Press
November 3, 2003 Monday
ISTANBUL, Turkey
Turkey’s top Islamic cleric said Monday that religion can never be used to
legitimize terrorism and urged religions to work together for peace.
Ali Bardakoglu was speaking at a meal to break the dawn-to-dusk fast during
the Islamic month of Ramadan.
The meal, intended to promote dialogue among religions, was also attended by
leaders of the country’s Jewish and Christian minorities.
“Every religion claims it is the only true religion. This is a very natural,
inevitable and rational supposition,” Bardakoglu said. “However, this
supposition can never legitimize the use of religions for fighting, as a
means for violence and terror, nor can it be the source of tensions.”
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s
Orthodox Christians, Mesrob II, the Armenian patriarch of Istanbul, and Isak
Haleva, Turkey’s chief rabbi, were among participants in the meal.
“The purpose of religions is the happiness of people in this world,”
Bardakoglu said. “As religious leaders, we have to guide and direct our
believers … to work for world peace and to stop blood, violence and
fighting.”
Turkey is an overwhelmingly Muslim country which is governed by staunchly
secular laws. Its minority Jewish and Christian communities are concentrated
mainly in Istanbul.
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