A series of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish advertisements have appeared in the Turkish city of Konya.
The ads encourage Muslims not to befriend Christians or Jews by quoting chapter 5 verse 51 of the Quran, which reads: “Do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies.”
“They are [in fact] allies of one another,” the passage continues. “And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.”
Eventually, after numerous complaints, the advertisements were removed by the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) warned that this anti-Christian sentiment was no new thing. “It is not very unusual, we have witnessed similar incidents in other parts of Turkey,” the charity noted to Premier UK.
The removal was a “step in the right direction” but certainly “didn’t indicate a significant improvement” in the treatment of Christians across the Muslim-majority country.
Bolstering the opinion of many who see Turkey’s incursion into Northern Syria as something of an Islamic jihad, President Recep Erdogan was recently captured on camera whipping up supporters at a mosque, as devotees shouted “Bless your Holy War!” and “The Last Caliph of Islam.”
Killings at the hands of the Islamists are becoming increasingly frequent.
In footage published by the British-based organization “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,” Turkish-backed proxy forces were seen desecrating the corpse of a female Kurdish YPG fighter they had captured during fighting outside the city of Kobane.
“The corpses of PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) and PYD (Democratic Union Party) pigs under the feet of the Mujahideen of Faylaq (Corps) al-Majd,” the man filming declared, before the group start chanting “Allahu Akbar!”
In his latest action, President Erdogan called on the US to hand over the leader of the Kurdish-led forces (SDF), Commander Mazloum Abdi, just as the SDF begins to engage in talks with the US and Russia about how to stem Turkey’s military advance.
Despite a ceasefire being agreed by Vice President Mike Pence last week, the temporary reprieve in violence lasted less than 24 hours. Yesterday, the SDF insisted that Turkey has repeatedly violated the agreement.
“Despite our forces’ commitment to the ceasefire decision and the withdrawal of our forces from the entire ceasefire area, the Turkish state and the terrorist factions allied to it are still violating the ceasefire process,” they said, according to Reuters. “Our forces are still clashing.”