Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday criticized US President Barack Obama for his silence following the killings of three young Muslims in North Carolina this week, in the latest sign relations between the two leaders have become strained.
Speaking alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during a state visit to Latin America’s No. 2 economy, Erdogan said the silence of Obama, US Vice President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State John Kerry was “telling,” and that they should take a position following such acts.
“If you stay silent when faced with an incident like this, and don’t make a statement, the world will stay silent towards you,” Erdogan said, condemning those responsible for the crime.
Photo: Reuters
The three Muslims were shot dead on Tuesday near the University of North Carolina (UNC) campus in an incident police said was possibly a hate crime. The White House said on Wednesday it would await the results of the police investigation before commenting.
Newlywed Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, a UNC dental student, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, a student at North Carolina State University, were gunned down on Tuesday in a condominium about 3km from the UNC campus in Chapel Hill.
Police charged the couple’s neighbor, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, with murder. Investigators say initial findings indicate a dispute over parking prompted the shooting, but they are looking into whether Hicks was motivated by hatred toward the victims because they were Muslim.
Turkey, an EU candidate nation and member of the NATO military alliance, is a key US ally in the fight against Muslim militants. However, Erdogan, a devout Sunni Muslim, has become increasingly outspoken about what he sees as rising Islamophobia in the West.
Last year, Erdogan said his relations with Obama had become strained and that he no longer spoke directly with him, as he was disappointed by a lack of US action over the war in neighboring Syria. Erdogan said he instead spoke with Biden over issues such as Iraq.
Despite working together to combat the Islamic State, differences have arisen between the US and Turkey over how best to tackle the insurgents.
Turkey has been an opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backing rebels fighting to oust him and allowing the political opposition to organize on Turkish soil. It long lobbied for international intervention in the war.
The families of the three Muslim students said an emotional farewell to their loved ones on Thursday, reiterating calls for the killings to be treated as a hate crime.
More than 5,000 people gathered for the funeral of Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.
Alleged shooter Hicks was believed to be strongly opposed to religion, as his Facebook page showed dozens of anti-religious posts, including proclamations denouncing Christianity, Mormonism and Islam.
Police said they were investigating Tuesday’s fatal shootings as a parking dispute, but victims’ families repeated their belief the attack was religiously motivated.
The US FBI said it had launched a parallel probe into the killings. Federal prosecutors often look into suspected hate-crime cases — a conviction for “hate crime” results in a tougher sentence.
“We are definitely certain that our daughters were targeted for their religion,” the father of the sisters, Mohammad Abu-Salha, told reporters.
“This is not a parking dispute, these children were executed with shots in the back of the heads,” he said, surrounded by tearful family members as they prepared for the final funeral prayer.
“This has hate crime written all over it and I’m not going to sit down for it,” he said later before three caskets.
The killings rattled the Chapel Hill community, fueling fears among some Muslims in the tight-knit university town, but officials say it did not appear to be part of a broader anti-Muslim campaign.
“To be honest, it makes me more scared because I have two babies so I don’t even want to imagine,” said Sarah Alhorani, a former student at University of North Carolina, where Barakat was a second year dentistry student.
“I was scared to walk out my door, but I did and I kept going and I kept my scarf on and you keep moving on,” Alhorani said.
Some Muslim leaders said the shooting was a reflection of wider anti-Muslim hostility, and warned it could sow fear among Muslim-Americans.
“People are very concerned about what happened. They feel that this is a premeditated hate crime,” Council on American-Islamic Relations director Nihad Awad told reporters.
However, there were calls for calm and leaders urged restraint.
“It’s time to mourn, but it’s also time to call for harmony and peace,” neighboring Raleigh, North Carolina’s Islamic Association head Mohamed Elgamal told reporters.
There are about 65,000 Muslims in North Carolina, which has a population of 9.9 million, and the majority live in the Chapel Hill area.
Mohammad Abu-Salha rejected skewed perceptions of Muslims, and said the slain youngsters and the support they garnered were exemplars of the faith.
“This is Islam, it’s not what you hear in the media, it’s not American Sniper,” he said, referring to a film about a shooter killing Muslims militants in the Iraq war.
Relatives and friends honored the trio at a traditional Muslim service.
Tearful crowds followed the funeral hearse to an outdoor service, where thousands gathered to kneel and pray.
“If you loved them, know that we are proud of them that they are Muslim,” Islamic Council member Noumann Siddiqui said.
“All of us, Muslims, Christians and Jews alike put love in our hearts. All lives matter,” Siddiqui said.
The victims’ parents wept as their children were buried, the sisters together in one grave next to Deah, while prayers echoed from the crowd.
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