Erdogan, Turkish president praised mark zuckerberg for pro Muslim message

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on
Thursday praised Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg for emphasising the difference
between Islam and terror, after the billionaire
social network tycoon posted a message
defending Muslims against discrimination.
Erdogan, who once threatened to ban
Facebook in his country, used his official
page on the website to respond to
Zuckerberg both in Turkish and in
English.
“I highly value Mark Zuckerberg’s
message for pointing out the profound
difference between Islam and terrorism
since these two concepts are often
mentioned in the same breath these
days,” he wrote.
“As I always express on different
platforms, Islam is a religion of peace.
Murderous networks that abuse Islam for
their self-serving goals are massacring
innocent people every day, particularly
Muslims.”
In a Facebook post on Wednesday,
Zuckerberg said that the Muslim
community should not have to fear being
“persecuted for the actions of others”
following attacks in Paris and elsewhere
carried out by Islamic extremists.
“If you’re a Muslim in this community,
as the leader of Facebook I want you to
know that you are always welcome here
and that we will fight to protect your
rights and create a peaceful and safe
environment for you,” he said.
The supportive message came just days
after Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump caused international
outrage by demanding a ban on Muslims
travelling to the United States.
Erdogan, who was elected president last
August after ruling Turkey as premier
for over a decade, has in the past made
no secret of his disdain for social media,
vowing to “eradicate” Twitter ahead of
local elections in March 2014.
The government blocked Twitter and
YouTube days before March 2014 local
elections after they were used to spread
a torrent of audio recordings implicating
Erdogan and his inner circle in an
alleged corruption scandal.
He had at the time raised the option of a
ban on Facebook, arguing that his
opponents were using the social media
site to attack him.
But the Turkish strongman appears to
have softened his stance in recent times.
His official Facebook page is now used
regularly to post his speeches and
statements, while Erdogan in February
even finally began tweeting from the
official handle @RT_Erdogan.