By Katherine Zoepf and Hassan M. Fattah The New York Times nytimes.com

By Craig S. Smith The New York Times

By Thomas Crampton International Herald Tribune www.iht.com

Area Muslims React With Tempered Anger
Some Say Depiction Overstepped Liberties

By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 5, 2006; A15

Wearing a brown golf cap against the cold drizzle, Rocky Omary stood outside Walima Cafe in Falls Church, where he and about 50 other men of Middle Eastern descent had just watched the Tunisian soccer team take a drubbing from the Nigerians.

That trouncing was bad enough. But Omary had other, more disturbing, insults on his mind: specifically, the recent publication in European newspapers of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad as a terrorist.

"I've been getting a lot of e-mails about it, and I'm distributing them all," said Omary, a Damascus native who sells real estate in Northern Virginia. "There is a limit to freedom. There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world. Let's have some respect."

A few miles away at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society mosque in Sterling, Zaki Al Barzinji, 16, was equally upset.

"Just because you can say something doesn't mean you should say something," the teenager said. "If somebody showed a picture of the pope with a bomb on his head, that would cause a great public outcry. Nobody would be talking about freedom of speech."

Washington area Muslims say they are closely following the furor in Europe and other parts of the world sparked by the cartoons, which first appeared in Denmark and Norway. In interviews yesterday, they expressed anger and hurt feelings. And although they said they recognized the value of freedom of speech, they said the freedom must be matched with respect and responsibility.

"Technically, you have the right to walk into a crowded theater and yell 'Fire,' " said Uzma Unus, 34, a teacher in Sterling who is also vice president of ADAMS. "But is that responsible?"

Several were critical of the violent reactions of some Muslims in Europe and the Middle East. The better way to respond, they added, is through dialogue and peaceful protests, such as the recently launched boycott of Danish dairy products.

"We don't want what is happening in Europe . . . to cross over to the United States," ADAMS Deputy Imam Sheikh Rashid Lamptey told about 150 men and women attending midday prayers. "We want to conduct [our protests] in a very orderly way."

The cartoons, including one showing Muhammad with a bomb in his head covering, have drawn escalating outrage from Muslims in England, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and in the Palestinian territories.

Yesterday, crowds in Syria set fire to the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish embassies. And, according to a wire report, a radical Islamic preacher in Lebanon demanded that the Danish editor who first printed the cartoons be killed.

Such reactions are "not warranted," said Robert Marro of Great Falls, who was attending prayers at ADAMS. Europeans could have defused the situation by apologizing instead of staking out a hard-line position of upholding free speech, he said.

"Growing up in America, I'm used to political cartoons, but . . . it's clear that this just crossed the line," said Marro, a retired U.S. diplomat. "What would the reaction have been if on Jan. 16, The Washington Post had published a picture of Martin Luther King with gangsta-rap clothing, a crack pipe and a Saturday night special? . . . It would have provoked a storm of outrage."

The cartoons doubly offended Muslims, because in addition to depicting Muhammad in a pejorative manner, they violated Islam's longtime prohibition on any image of the prophet, his family or early companions.

ADAMS's imam, Mohamed Magid, explained that the ban stems from early Islam, when Muhammad preached monotheism in a culture steeped in the worship of idols.

To discourage such idolatry, he ordered Muslims not to draw, and religious leaders have interpreted this to mean that the prophet was banning images of himself and those close to him so they would never become objects of worship for Muslims, Magid said.

"We don't want to attribute divinity to the prophet," he said.

Cautioning his congregation not to overreact, Magid urged them to follow the model set by the prophet, who is said to have always forgiven those who insulted him, including the woman who deposited her trash on him as he passed her home.

Magid also called for "constructive, civilized dialogue so we avoid a clash of civilizations." As part of that effort, he said he and other area Muslim leaders will meet tomorrow with the Danish ambassador to Washington.

At the Falls Church strip mall, where the soccer fans scrunched their shoulders against the damp, cold air, several men voiced appreciation for the U.S. government's criticism of the cartoons. "We salute this position," said a 39-year-old salesman from Tunisia, who declined to give his name.

Majdi Omouri, 30, a limousine driver, was philosophical. "If you look at freedom as something really large, without limits, it doesn't make sense," he said. "Freedom has to be united with responsibility. . . . In the name of freedom, I cannot insult your beliefs."

---

The Mohammed Cartoons
Western governments have nothing to apologize for.
by Paul Marshall - Weekly Standard,
02/13/2006, Volume 011, Issue 21
AS MOST OF THE WORLD now knows, on September 30, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Subsequent disputes have drawn in the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, and Hezbollah, to name a few. Since not only freedom of the press but also freedom of religion are threatened, it is vital to be clear-sighted about the issues at stake.

In the light of Salman Rushdie's case, the butchering of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh for his film on Muslim women, and death threats against Egyptian actor Omar Sharif for playing St. Peter on Italian TV, Jyllands-Posten wanted to test whether "we still have freedom of speech in Denmark." Knowing that Islamic tradition forbids such portrayals, it commissioned illustrations for what editor in chief Carsten Juste called "an article on the self-censorship which rules large parts of the Western world."

The paper expected a strong reaction, and got it. Immediately, two employees received death threats, and the paper hired security guards. Juste responded, "If we apologize, we go against the freedom of speech that generations before us have struggled to win."

On October 20, eleven ambassadors from Muslim-majority countries asked to meet Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to complain about a "smear campaign" against Islam. He responded, admirably: "I won't meet with them because it is so crystal clear what principles Danish democracy is built upon that there is no reason to do so. . . . As prime minister I have no tool whatsoever to take actions against the media, and I don't want that kind of tool."

With no apparent sense of irony, Egyptian officials then withdrew from a dialogue on human rights with their Danish counterparts. Subsequently, Arab interior ministers called for Danish authorities to "punish those responsible," the Jordanian Parliament demanded action against those "striking at the sentiments of the Arabo-Muslim nation," Iran and Iraq protested to Danish envoys, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait recalled their ambassadors, Libya closed its embassy, and Saudi Arabia and Sudan announced a boycott of Danish products.

In Gaza, thousand of protesters burned Danish flags while chanting "Death to Denmark," and gunmen stormed the European Union office. In Iraq, Danish troops were put on alert after a local fatwa was issued. In Kashmir, shops closed in protest. Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami party placed a bounty of 50,000 Danish kroner on the cartoonists. Jihadi websites are threatening suicide bombings in Denmark. Hezbollah's head, Hassan Nasrallah, declared if Muslims had carried "out the fatwa of Imam Khomeini against the renegade Salman Rushdie, the scum who are insulting our Prophet Mohammed in Denmark, Norway, and France would not dare do so."

Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, head of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, proposed to raise the matter with the "U.N.'s concerned committees" and human rights groups. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League want the U.N. General Assembly to pass "a binding resolution banning contempt for religious beliefs and providing for sanctions to be imposed on contravening countries or institutions."

The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour, replied to the OIC, "I find alarming any behaviors that disregard the beliefs of others." She launched investigations into "racism" and "disrespect for belief," and asked for "an official explanation" from the Danish government. However, despite being a professed defender of human rights, she showed no alarm at the OIC's disregard for the Danes' belief in and commitment to a free press.

Thereafter some newspapers took their own steps. The Norwegian Magazinet republished the cartoons on January 9. Then, on February 1, seven European papers including Italy's La Stampa, Spain's El Periodico, and the Netherlands' Volkskrant followed suit. Germany's Die Welt did likewise, arguing that in the West there is a right to blaspheme. France Soir published them, along with Buddhist, Jewish, and Christian caricatures, under the headline "Yes, we have a right to caricature God." Other media, including the BBC, are taking similar steps.

Gaza gunmen then threatened to kidnap French, Norwegians, Danes, and Germans unless their governments apologized. Meanwhile, France Soir's managing editor was sacked, as was the editor of Jordan's Shihan, which ran some of the cartoons to show how offensive they were, while urging Muslims to "be reasonable."

Defending freedom of religion and freedom of the press requires distinguishing who is being criticized, and distinguishing criticism from threats. It is one thing to condemn Jyllands-Posten for offending millions of people. It is a very different thing to criticize the Danish or other governments, since the criticism itself, even apart from invidious calls for cartoonists to be punished by the state, assumes that government should control the media. Saudi Arabia, Iran, and their authoritarian brethren, as well as jihadist vigilantes, are attempting to export and impose their media censorship and version of sharia on the world at large, using economic pressure, international organizations, or violence.

Hence, as Rasmussen correctly stated, he was sorry that Muslims "felt insulted," but the Danish government"cannot be held responsible for what is published in the independent media." Similarly, Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg was sorry "this may have hurt many Muslims," but said the Norwegian government "cannot apologize for what the newspapers print."

As a man of principle, Rasmussen should also tell the Egyptian and other ambassadors that not only is this none of the Danish government's business, but, since they are ambassadors of countries, not religions, it is none of their business either. They, especially the Saudis, may reply that they do not make that distinction. Our response should be to state clearly and firmly that we do, and that protecting religious freedom requires us to uphold it in our dealings with others.

Finally, amid current calls for "toleration" and "respect for belief," we need to be very clear about the distinction between religious toleration and religious freedom.

Religious toleration means not insulting somebody else's religion, and it is a good thing. But religious freedom means being free to reject somebody else's religion and even to insult it. Government should want and encourage its citizens to be tolerant of one another, but its primary responsibility is to protect its citizens' rights and freedoms. The fact that people are sometimes insulted is one cost of freedom. The Jyllands-Posten affair calls us to uphold that principle internationally as well as domestically.

Paul Marshall is senior fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom and the editor of, most recently, Radical Islam's Rules: The Worldwide Spread of Extreme Shari'a Law (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005).

---

Is nothing sacred?
-
Sunday, February 5, 2006  www.sfgate.com

THE CARICATURES of Muhammad that have ignited an international furor are offensive and recklessly off base in portraying the prophet as a terrorist. The cartoons lacked artistic merit or satirical sophistication. We have to wonder: What were the Danish cartoonists and the newspapers that originally decided to publish them thinking?

Still, the global reaction is far more disturbing than the editors' great lapse in taste and cultural sensitivity. The protests by Muslims demanding violent revenge against the cartoonists -- or, in some cases, against Denmark generally -- are an affront in their own right to a religion of peace. They also guaranteed that many millions of people would quickly go to the Internet to see what the fuss was all about.

Strong editorial cartoons can be outrageous, unfair and, yes, irreverent to the most sacred institutions of society -- even to the edge of blasphemy at times. Humor can be a wickedly effective device in making a point, but it also can be a hurtful weapon if used clumsily or with malice toward a segment of humanity.

The question is, who makes that judgment? Censorship, even when unleashed under the well-intentioned guise of sensitivity, has a way of turning into tyranny.

No law, of state or religion, should be allowed to become the ultimate arbiter of freedom of expression.

---

---

February 06, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0206/p01s02-wogi.html

Cartoon furor deepens divisions

By James Brandon | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

LONDON - As controversy escalates over the publication in Europe of 12 controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims from Saudi Arabia to Britain are decrying what they see as but one more installment in a worldwide attack against Islam.

"This is a revival of the Crusades of old," says Anjem Choudary, spokesman for Al-Ghurabaa, a radical Muslim group that organized protests in London this weekend.

"European nations are joining hands against Islam. We have seen the invasion of Iraq, the banning of the hijab in France, and now this." The cartoons were first published five months ago by a Danish newspaper to challenge a climate of fear and self-censorship. But Muslim anger escalated after numerous European newspapers republished the cartoons last week, threatening to make the issue a milestone in modern Muslim-Christian relations.

With Muslim anger still strong over the Iraq war, and Islamic radicals such as Hamas gaining strength, the cartoons - and the debate they have provoked about free speech versus respect for religious beliefs - have become fodder for those who say that a clash of civilizations is inevitable.

"The fundamentalists are jumping on this as an opportunity to mobilize people," says Nadim Shehadi, a Middle East analyst at Chatham House in London. "The moderate voices who called for calm and reason are getting overwhelmed."

The newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which first published the cartoons - including one that showed the prophet wearing a turban that held a bomb - apologized last week, but the statement did little to appease Muslim ire. Saudi Arabia called for boycotts last week of Danish goods, and several Muslim nations recalled ambassadors from Denmark. Over the weekend, Muslims set fire to Denmark's embassies in Syria and Lebanon.

Advising moderation

Moderate voices have emerged amid the debate and the violence. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora said Sunday that "this is absolutely not the way we express our opinions." And Mohammad Rashid Qabani, Lebanon's top Sunni Muslim cleric, said Muslims must exercise restraint. "We don't want the expression of our condemnation [of the cartoons] to be used by some to portray a distorted image of Islam," he said.

The world's leading Islamic body also rejected the violence. "Overreactions surpassing the limits of peaceful democratic acts ... are dangerous and detrimental to the efforts to defend the legitimate case of the Muslim world," said the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Last week, the editor of a Jordanian newspaper chastized his fellow Muslims in an editorial. "What brings more prejudice against Islam? These caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?" asked Jihad Momani.

But Mr. Momani has since been fired and arrested. The newspaper was removed from newsstands.

The outrage has grown from a base of preexisting issues, including frustration over perceived discrimination against Muslims in Europe, say some experts.

"This is not about the cartoons themselves. There was a lot of tension between the West and Muslims because of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine," says Mr. Shehadi. "This is just the spark that set it off."

While much attention has focused on the principle of free speech, the increasingly bitter dispute has raised questions about whether Europe is consistent in applying its aggressive hate-crimes laws.

"In the Arab world, there is a feeling that Europeans' freedom of expression is selective," explains Obeida Nahas, director of thisissyria.net, a Syrian opposition website. "There is a feeling that Europeans secretly hate Muslims."

As a result, the controversy has allowed fringe organizations like Al-Ghurabaa to present themselves as defenders of Islam.

"People feel targeted because they are Muslims," says Shehadi. "The only people they see standing up for Islam are the radicals."

Across Europe, Muslims are reacting to the cartoons in many ways, their perceptions shaped by local coverage and their experiences living in Europe.

In France, France Soir reprinted all 12 cartoons. For the country's 5 million Muslims, the gesture added to concerns raised by the government's banning of the hijab, or head scarf, in government buildings, some say.

"These caricatures of the prophet, that's more serious. Things could go farther. Yes, I'm angry - everybody's angry," says Hassan Defi, an unemployed handyman in the Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, where fierce rioting occurred last year. "One should have the right to express oneself, but in a way that doesn't attack any religion."

In the neighboring suburb of Bondy, the director of the local mosque, Mohamed Meniri, concurs. "Freedom of expression must exist - it's necessary," he says, shivering outside his mosque as snow swirls around his shoulders. "But if [non-Muslims] are allowed to express themselves in their way, then we must be allowed to express ourselves in our way. We at our mosque advise calmness. We must do all that is possible to make ourselves heard, and to say that we must live together."

Different countries, different protests

The manner in which the protests were carried out around the Muslim world often reflected the prevailing political environment in each country. In the Gulf, the protests have been few and peaceful, with anger manifested in a boycott of Danish and Norwegian goods. But the protests have taken on a more violent edge in the increasingly lawless Gaza Strip.

In Syria, the tense struggle with the West - chiefly over Iraq and its support for alleged terrorist groups - shaped the rare outburst of violence in Damascus on Saturday. Street demonstrations there tend to be organized by the authorities rather than spontaneous manifestations.

Lingering problems between Syria and Lebanon also provided context for Sunday's demonstration in Lebanon, with some Lebanese saying that the instigators of the violence were pro-Syrian activists.

"It's very hard to separate the local motivation from the global motivation," says Rami Khouri, a Beirut-based syndicated columnist.

Mr. Nahas, of thisissyria.net, hopes that dialogue will emerge from the violence. "In a way these events may have brought people together," he says. "My European friends want to know more and I want to explain how we feel. And this same freedom of expression is, after all, what we are calling for in the Arab world."

• Nicholas Blanford in Beirut and John Thorne in Paris contributed to this report.

Cartoon controversy

• Sept. 30, 2005: Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishes 12 cartoons of Muhammad.

• January 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons. Boycotts, diplomatic protests intensify against Denmark.

• Jan. 30: Gunmen storm EU offices in the Gaza Strip. The Danish paper apologizes.

• Feb. 1: Papers in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain run reprints.

• Feb. 4: Mobs burn the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Chilean embassies in Syria. Protests in Denmark turn violent.

• Feb. 5: Danish Consulate in Beirut, Lebanon, is torched.

Source: Compiled from wires.

---

Sunday, Feb. 05, 2006 www.time.com
When Cultures Collide
Observers around the world tell TIME how they view the cartoons--and the controversy they've sparked

FLEMMING ROSE Culture editor of Denmark's Jyllands-Posten, who commissioned the drawings

In mid-September a Danish author went on the record as saying he had problems finding illustrators for a book about the life of the Prophet Muhammad. The [eventual] illustrator insisted on anonymity. Translators of a book by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali Dutch politician who has been critical of Islam, also insisted on anonymity. Then the Tate Britain in London removed an installation called God Is Great, which shows the Talmud, the Koran and the Bible embedded in a piece of glass. To me, all those spoke to the problems of self-censorship and freedom of speech, and that's why I wrote to 40 Danish cartoonists asking them to depict Muhammad as they see him.

Some of the cartoons turned out to be caricatures because this is just in the Danish tradition. We make fun of the Queen, we make fun of politicians, we make fun of more or less everything. Of course, we didn't expect this kind of reaction, but I am sorry if some Muslims feel insulted. This was not directed at Muslims. I wanted to put this issue of self-censorship on the agenda and have a debate about it.

SAMIA AL-DUAIJ Kuwaiti oil executive living in Belgium after two years in Denmark

These pictures aren't blasphemous, they're racist. I'm a very liberal Kuwaiti woman who cracks the odd joke about Islam, but I was extremely offended by these cartoons because I know what kind of society produced them. I am well educated and had a high-paying corporate job in Denmark, but I was still subjected to derogatory comments all the time because I look Middle Eastern. Every single second-generation Muslim Dane I met wanted to get the hell out. Why? They say, "We grew up here, but we feel unwelcome. We can't get jobs." Perhaps it's the same feeling that Jews felt at the time of the Nazis or black people in the U.S. in the '50s. It's just not funny. And I'm not even remotely religious.

But I have one question for the thousands of outraged Muslims. America kills thousands of Muslims, and you lose your head and withdraw ambassadors over a bunch of cartoons printed in a second-rate paper in a Nordic country with a population of 5 million? That's the true outrage.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ Harvard law professor

The U.S. news media, by refusing to run these cartoons, are giving in to intellectual and religious terrorism. A separate standard is being applied here out of fear of physical retaliation. Whatever is fair to say about one group must be fair to say about another. The European papers are doing the right thing. They're being courageous. It is in the public's interest to see these cartoons that are causing so much outrage. When you see them, you see the extent of the overreaction. They are not nearly as bad as cartoons that routinely run in the Muslim media against Jews, Christians, the U.S. and Israel.

HABIB DRIOUCH Network engineer and second-generation French citizen of Moroccan origin

I consider myself 100% French. I believe in freedom of speech. The newspapers had the right to do what they did, but that does not mean they were right to do it. I would never go into a church or synagogue and start blasting music or yelling. It would be an insult. This is the same thing. The cartoons are dangerous in that they portray all Muslims as terrorists. One bad apple does not ruin the bunch. Extremists from both sides are going to use this to push their own agendas. With all the tension in the world right now, I really don't see why these journalists had to behave this way. What have they gained from this? Nothing.

JACK SHAFER Media critic, Slate

I've seen evangelical comics in the U.S. that make the minor blasphemy of the cartoon in Denmark seem like nothing. They ridicule the Prophet and all Muslim beliefs. But I defend the rights of the cartoonist. I think that if there's a free press, there's a right to commit blasphemy. If you cannot criticize or express an opinion about a religion in the modern era, we're in serious trouble.

ABOUBAKR JAMAI Editor of the Moroccan weeklies Assahifa al-Ousbouia and Le Journal Hebdomadaire

People are really hurt. You cannot analyze what is unfolding without putting the cartoons in the context of Iraq and Palestine. The cartoons are adding insult to injury. Not only are you invading and robbing our lands, you are insulting our faith. But let me say this and repeat it again and again: I am completely against banning these newspapers. People have the right not to read the newspapers. We don't need to shut them down, and we certainly don't need to kill people. Some people are reacting as if the way to protect Islam is to ban these things--like if you are exposed to too many cartoons, you'll become a Christian or an atheist. But faith is something you renew every day. You are exposed to things you do not like and keep your faith.

YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN Ugandan-born liberal Muslim columnist based in London

If they wanted to provoke a reaction, that reaction has been provoked. But when you're free, you have to live with the consequences of your words. The other European papers that reprinted the cartoons have the right to do so, but it's adolescent, like picking a fight in a pub.

I am deeply affronted by the link made between Muslims' faith and violence. If the cartoonists had shown a real terrorist with a bomb on his head, I wouldn't care less, but why should my faith be portrayed in this way? More Muslims' deaths are caused by the violence of Western politics than Muslims are responsible for causing. Using the freedom-of-expression argument, Europe has found yet another way of telling us we are not wanted, we do not belong. And I hate it.

ANDREI SIMANTJUNTAK Member of Indonesia's centrist Islamic Prosperous Justice Party

Why do you have to insult somebody to assert freedom of the press? Even if the Prophet were portrayed in a glorious light, it would still be insulting. Reprinting the cartoons is even more reprehensible. This is pushing moderate Muslims to the fringes and is like pouring alcohol on a wound. It shows there is some serious resentment out there toward Muslims.

TARIQ RAMADAN Swiss Muslim scholar and visiting fellow at Oxford University

Both sides are exaggerating. While it's true that the picture of the Prophet is strictly forbidden, Muslims have to understand that there is an old tradition in secular Western society to make fun of everything. To react emotionally is excessive. It is no longer a debate; it is a power struggle. We have to calm down. We don't want laws preventing people from being free to speak. But we should also not forget wisdom and decency when we are dealing with people. Democracy isn't just a legal framework. It is about respecting one another

---

Annan urges Muslims to accept apology about controversial Danish cartoon

http://www.un.org/News

3 February 2006 – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged Muslims offended by a cartoon in a Danish newspaper to accept the publisher’s apology, while cautioning others against exacerbating the volatile situation.

Asked to comment on the controversy, Mr. Annan said, “I share the distress of the Muslim friends who feel that the cartoon offends their religion. I also respect the right of freedom of speech. But of course freedom of speech is never absolute. It entails responsibility and judgment.”

Emphasizing the need to overcome the immediate crisis, he added: “What is important is that the newspaper that initially published the cartoons has apologized, and I would urge my Muslim friends to accept the apology, to accept it in the name of Allah the Merciful, and let’s move on.”

He also appealed “to everybody not to take any measures that will inflame an already difficult situation.”

The UN has “always respected freedom of speech along with the right to worship,” he said, recalling the world body’s initiatives to bridge the cultural divide between Islam and the West, including the Alliance of Civilizations, a high-level group discussing the issue.

“I hope the apology will be accepted and that we will put this behind us and move on, and no attempts will be made in a way to punish a group that has nothing to do with the action of an individual journalist or a newspaper,” Mr. Annan repeated. “We should not tarnish the whole nation of Denmark or all of Europe with this, and I think my Muslim brothers should accept the apology.”

---

---

5 Şubat, 2006 23:04:00 (TSİ)

Dışişleri Bakanı Abdullah Gül, Hz. Muhammed'in karikatürlerinin yayımlanması ile tüm dünyada artan gerilim üzerine üst düzey Dışişleri Bakanlığı yetkilileri ile olağanüstü bir toplantı yaptı.

Bakan Gül, Dışişleri Bakanlığı Müsteşarı Büyükelçi Ali Tuygan, ilgili müsteşar yardımcıları, genel müdürler ve ilgili diğer bakanlık yetkilileriyle Dışişleri Konutu'nda bir araya geldi. 
 
Toplantıda İslam alemi ile Hıristiyan dünyası arasında sorunlara yol açan karikatür krizi çerçevesinde gelişen olaylar ele alındı.
 
Dışişleri Konutu’ndaki toplantıda krizin nasıl yatıştırılabileceği, bu çerçevede Türkiye'nin ne gibi bir rol oynayabileceği ve hangi girişimlere öncülük edilebileceği değerlendirildi.
 
Bakan Gül, İslam Konferansı Örgütü Genel Sekreteri Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu ile  de telefon görüşmesi yaptı. 
 
Trabzon’daki saldırı kınandı
 
Dışişleri Bakanlığı sert bir açıklama yaparak Trabzon'da Katolik Kilisesi papazı Andrea Santoro'nun öldürülmesini de kınadı.
 
‘Bu haince saldırıyı şiddetle kınıyoruz’ cümlesi ile başlayan Dışişleri Bakanlığı açıklamasında ‘her ne amaç için olursa olsun bu türden saldırıları aklı selim sahibi hiç kimsenin tasvip etmesi mümkün değildir’ denildi.
 
Dışişleri Bakanlığı Müsteşar Yardımcısı Büyükelçi Rafet Akgünay da, Bakan Gül adına Ankara'daki Vatikan ve İtalyan büyükelçilerini arayarak, Trabzon Santa Maria Kilisesi Papazı Andrea Santoro'nun öldürülmesinden dolayı üzüntülerini iletti. www.cnnturk.com

---

Gül: Anti-semitizmin yerini İslam karşıtlığı alıyor

ANKARA(ANKA)

Dışişleri Bakanı Abdullah Gül, Hazreti Muhammed karikatürlerinin yayınlanmasını "sorumsuzca bir saygısızlık" olarak nitelendirdi ve bazı ülkelerde anti semitizmin yerini İslam karşıtlığının aldığını söyledi.

Ankara’da düzenlenen ve çok sayıda yerli ve yabancı diplomatın katıldığı "Kamu Diplomasisi" konuyu toplantının açılış konuşmasını yapan Gül, çıkışta gazetecilerin sorularını yanıtladı.

Gül, karikatürlerin ardından yaşanan bu olayların sürpriz olmadığını söyleyerek, daha önce Danimarka’daki Türk büyükelçisinin birçok Müslüman ülkenin büyükelçisi ile birlikte yetkililerin dikkatini çektiğini söyledi.

"MÜSLÜMANLAR HAKLIYKEN HAKSIZ KONUMA DÜŞMEMELİ"

Şu anda karikatürler yüzünden dünyanın pek çok yerinde istenmeyen olaylar yaşandığını belirten Dışişleri Bakanı Gül, "Basın özgürlüğü, neticesi ne olursa olsun aklına geleni yapmak anlamına gelmez. Bu sorumsuzca yapılan bir saygısızlığın neticelerini birçok insan çekiyor. Daha önce de bu tip olaylar olmuştu. Hatırlarsanız Salman Rüşdi olayında birçok masum insan dünyanının farklı yerlerinde hayatını kaybetmişti" dedi.

Bazı ülkelerde protestolar sırasında yaşanan şiddet eylemlerini de kınayan Gül, "Özellikli Suriye’de yaşananları hiçbir şekilde tasvip etmiyoruz. Bunlar konuşarak, diplomasi ile çözülecek işlerdir. Müslümanlar haklıyken haklı konuma düşmemelidir" diye konuştu.

GÜL’DEN İSLAM KARŞITLIĞI UYARISI

Dünyada bazı ülkelerde anti semitizmin yerini İslam karşıtlığının aldığını ifade eden Abdullah Gül, Türkiye olarak bütün bunlara karşı dünyanın dikkatini çekiyoruz. Ayrılıkçılık, ırkçılık, dinler arasında ayrım yapmak, bütün bunlara karşı yaptığımız görüşmelerde dikkati çekiyoruz" dedi.
Gül ayrıca, "Üzülerek söylüyorum ki son yıllarda bir Müslüman düşmanlığı olmaya başladı. Bunun çok tehlikeli olduğunu düşünüyorum. Özellikle terör, şiddet, bularla dinin hiçbir zaman birleştirilmemesi gerekir. Her dine mensup toplumlar içinden yanlış insanlar çıkabilir. Tarihe baktığımızda milyonlarca insanını ölümüne neden olan kişiler çıkmıştır. Bunun ayrımını iyi yapmak gerekir. Sayın Başbakanımız da İspanya başbakanı ile bir çağrı yaptı" diye konuştu.

"TRABZON SALDIRISINI ŞİDDETLE KINIYORUZ"

Dışişleri Bakanı Abdullah Gül, bir soru üzerine ayrıca Trabzon’da bir papazın öldürülmesi olayının, karikatürler ile bağlantısının olmayacağını tahmin ettiklerini belirtti. Yetkililerin konu ile ilgili yoğun bir çalışma içinde olduğunu belirten Gül, "Saldırıdan gerçekten büyük bir üzüntü duyduk. Bir din adamına bir dini mekanda yapılan bu saldırıyı şiddetle kınıyoruz. Bunun tamamen bireysel bir saldırı olduğunua inanıyoruz, bütün göstergeler de o yönde" dedi.
Gül, kamu diplomamasisi konulu toplantının açılış konuşmasında ise bazı önemli kararlar alınırken popülarite, ticari çıkarlar gibi konuların arka planda bırakılması gerektiğini söyledi. Abdullah Gül’ün Devlet Konuk evinde yaptığı konuşmaya basın da büyük ilgi gösterdi.

---

'Medeniyetlerin çatıştığı değil buluştuğu ülkeyiz' derken Trabzon'da bir katolik papaz kilisede dua ederken öldürüldü

Trabzon'daki Santa Maria Katolik Kilisesi'nin papazı İtalyan vatandaşı 61 yaşındaki Andrea Sentore, kilisenin içinde tabancayla vurularak öldürüldü. Saldırgan, kentin en merkezi yeri Gazipaşa Mahalle-si'nde bulunan ve sadece cumartesi, pazar ve sah günleri saat 15.00-16.00 arasında açılan Santa Maria Katolik Kilisesi'ne dün kapanmak üzereyken saat 15.45 sıralarında geldi. Papaz Sentore dua ederken kapıdan içeri giren kişinin seslenmesiyle arkasına baktı, katil bu sırada 2 el ateş etti ve açık kapıdan kaçarak uzaklaştı.

Bereli ve siyah montlu
Çevre sakinleri, polise silah sesinin ardından siyah montlu, siyah pantolonlu, başı bereli 17-18 yaşlarında bir gencin koşarak kaçtığını söyledi. Kentin tüm çıkışlarını tutan polis, saldırganı yakalamaya çalışıyor. Papaz Sentore'nin, başta Danimarka olmak üzere Avrupa'nın çeşitli ülkelerinde Hz. Muhammed'in karikatürünün yayımlanmasına tepki olarak provokasyon amacıyla öldürüldüğü ihtimali üzerinde duruluyor. Trabzon Valisi Hüseyin Yavuzdemir, saldırıyı lanetlediklerini açıkladı. Yavuzdemir, "Bu olay Trabzon halkına zarar verecek bir harekettir. Görgü tanıkları var. En kısa zamanda yakalanacaktır" dedi. Trabzon Emniyet Müdürü Cumhuriyet Başsavcısı da kiliseye gelerek incelemelerde bulundu.

Çiçek: Nefretle kınıyoruz!
Adalet Bakanı Cemil Çiçek, olaydan büyük üzüntü duyduklarını belirterek, "Cinayetin bir mabette ve din adamına karşı işlenmiş olmasını büyük nefretle karşılıyor ve kınıyoruz. Hükümet olarak bu cinayetin gerçek yönlerinin ortaya çıkarılması için her türlü çabayı göstereceğiz" dedi.

www.radikal.com.tr

---

Erdoğan ve Zapatero'dan sükunet çağrısı

www.zaman.com.tr

Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ve İspanya Başbakanı Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, İslam dünyasını rahatsız eden karikatürler konusunda ''sükunet ve saygı'' çağrısında bulundu.

Erdoğan ve Zapatero'nun imzasıyla kaleme alınan ortak makale, bugün İnternational Herald Tribune gazetesinde yayımlandı.

''Müslümanları derin bir biçimde rahatsız eden karikatürlerin tahrikiyle ortaya çıkan gerginliğin, giderek artan bir endişeyle izlendiği'' belirtilen makalede, ''iki tarafta da sadece güvensizlik ve anlayışsızlık izi bırakacak bu durumu derhal etkisiz hale getirmediğimiz takdirde kaybeden hepimiz oluruz'' denildi.

Makalede, ''bu yüzden, sükunet ve saygı çağrısı yapmanın ve mantığın sesine kulak vermenin gerekli olduğu'' vurgulandı

"Müslümanlar haklıyken haksız duruma düşmemeli"

Dışişleri Bakanı ve Başbakan Yardımcısı Abdullah Gül, ''basın hürriyetinin, herkesin limitsiz her şeyi yazması, çizmesi, hakaret etmesi, neticesi ne olursa olsun aklına geleni yapması anlamına gelmediğini'' söyledi.

Devlet Konukevi'nde düzenlenen ''Kamu Diplomasisi'' konferansının açılış konuşmasını yapan Gül, çıkışta gazetecilerin, son günlerde karikatür krizinden yükselen gerilime ilişkin sorularını yanıtladı.

Gül, ''yaşananların aslında çok beklenmeyen bir şey olmadığına'' işaret ederek, ''bu olay daha ilk çıktığında Türkiye'nin oradaki büyükelçisinin, birçok Müslüman ülkenin büyükelçisiyle birlikte yönetimin dikkatini çektiğini ve bu konularda dikkatli olunması gerektiğini, ileride kontrol edilemeyecek gelişmeler olabileceğini söylediğini'' hatırlattı.

Büyükelçinin o dönemde çok açık bir şekilde üstüne düşenleri yaptığını kaydeden Gül, ''Ne yazık ki bugün gelinen nokta, dünyanın birçok bölgesinde istenmeyen olaylar oluyor'' dedi.

Gül, ''Her şeyden önce basın hürriyeti şüphesiz ki geçerlidir ve her yerde basın hürriyetinin olmasını çok arzu ederiz biz. Ama basın hürriyeti demek, limitsiz, herkesin her şeyi yapması, yazması, çizmesi, hakaret etmesi, neticesi ne olursa olsun aklına geleni yapması anlamına gelmez şüphes