Ankara is working to strengthen alliances and reduce disputes both among itself and across the Islamic world, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.
"We believe there is virtue in unity; we are working to strengthen alliances and reduce disagreements both among ourselves and across the Islamic world," Erdogan said on Friday in his speech at the Mawlid al Nabi Week programme, which marked the birth of Prophet Muhammad, in Istanbul.
President Erdogan said he hopes Muslims, "who shaped history and brought order to the world for centuries," will reunite "like bricks in a wall."
He underlined the importance of unity among Muslims, urging them to defend their rights and work together to build peace and security in the region.
"We are going through a historic struggle between good and evil, and God willing, good will prevail," Erdogan added.
"Radical, occupying, genocidal ideology known as Zionism" not only threatens the peace of its neighbours but also targets everyone who defends human values, he warned.
He said the world is failing to respond adequately to the Israeli "genocide network’s lawless policies, which disregard rules, principles, values, and boundaries."
The Turkish president said Israel’s "war-obsessed government" is using provocations to destabilise the entire region, starting with its neighbours.
