Muslims 'must unite, act against terrorism'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has called for unity of Muslim leaders to fight extremism after the recent Paris terrorist attacks, warning that otherwise jihadists will commit further atrocities."We are at a crossroads in the fight against terrorism and on the issue of the refugee crisis after the terror attacks in Paris," Erdo?an yesterday told a meeting of the Atlantic Council Energy & Economic Summit in Istanbul, referring to the Paris attacks on Nov. 13 that were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and killed 129 people.

"I strongly condemn the terrorists, who believe in the same religion as me. I am calling on all leaders of Muslim countries to take a united position. In the same manner, I also call on all religious leaders to unite in this issue," he added.

"If not, those who knocked on our door in Ankara will knock on your door elsewhere, as they did in Paris. Did it end with Paris? No, it may knock on the door somewhere else," Erdo?an said, calling for states to cooperate more deeply in the fight against terror. 

The Turkish president also lashed out at any notion that "all Muslims are terrorists," saying "bad people can be Muslims, as well as Christians and Jews." 

"We cannot assign negative attributes exclusively to any religion. These bad people could be Muslims, Christians or Jews. Those who demonize Islam by looking at Daesh are making a big mistake. Daesh has nothing to do with Islam," Erdo?an said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL.

"Terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda and Boko Haram, which abuse Islam, are in fact harming and killing Muslims more than anyone else. These organizations have no relation to Islam. I believe we took a step to preventing these evil sources from...