Islamic countries constitute majority of the world’s battlefields: CHP leader

NEVŞEHİR

Islamic countries constitute the majority of the world’s battlefields, with most of them also suffering from hunger and poverty, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said.

“According to Hacı Bektaş Veli, one should compete in goodness, resist injustice, not deviate from justice and never despair, but there are bitter truths in the world today, and that is that Islamic countries constitute the majority of the world’s battlefields,” the CHP leader said on Aug. 16, speaking at an event commemorating Hacı Bektaş Veli, an Alevi mystic, in the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir’s Hacıbektaş district.

“I regret to say that statistics show that most of the children suffering from war and hunger are Muslims. We wish the pain and bloodshed ends,” Kılıçdaroğlu added.

In Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya, Muslims kill each other in the name of Islam, he said, adding: “It is Muslims who have to migrate from their countries, too.”

Also speaking at the ceremony, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Muslim people were suffering the most pain in the world.

Hacıbektaş is home to the tomb of Hacı Bektaş Veli. Alevis, who are described as the followers of the Caliph Ali, the nephew and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, display religious practices distinct from Turkey’s Sunni majority.

The order founded on the teachings of Hacı Bektaş Veli is called “Bektaşi” and has many followers among Anatolian Alevis.