ISTANBUL - Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek has said, ''democracy has become an urgent need like oxygen for Islamic countries.''
''Islamic Countries Democracy Congress'' hosted by Turkey started on Tuesday at the Conrad Hotel in Istanbul.
Making opening remarks of the congress, Cicek said that as Turkey, they attributed great importance to the congress and considered it very meaningful, stressing that the 21st century was the age of human rights, freedom and democracy.
Stressing that anti-democratic administrations should come to an end, Cicek said, ''matters that we will negotiate are rising values. The Islamic world is in urgent need for especially these values. Democracy has become a need like oxygen for the Islamic countries.''
''Democracy, human rights and supremacy of law are the most urgent and prior needs of the Islamic community. Islamic countries have wasted quite a lot of time about it. They withdrew from the world and remained behind. There is no need for external recommendations but there is a need for bringing the domestic demand onto the agenda in each country to improve these values in the Islamic geography. At the point, Turkey is ready to share its experiences,'' he said.
Regarding the debates on whether or not Islam is compatible with democracy, Cicek said that there was not any problem for Turkey about this issue.
Noting that Islam had started to be perceived as ''religion of terrorism'' after the latest negative developments in the world, Cicek said, ''however, terrorism has nothing to do with the essence of Islam.''
Stressing that Muslims in Turkey had a clear stance against terrorism and accepted terrorism as a crime against humanity, Cicek said that the Islam world should put forward its definite stance against terrorism.
(MS-AY) 13.04.2004