Daesh has nothing to do with Islam, says Erdogan

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Wednesday 03 Feb 2016 - 11:39 Makkah mean time-24-4-1437 Image from AA Santiago, Chile (IINA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told an audience in Chile that the Daesh group, which declared a so-called Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014, has “nothing to do with Islam”, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported. "Islam never allows terrorism; this is one. Secondly, Islam and terror cannot be mentioned together. Third, Daesh is a terror organization and it has nothing to do with Islam," Erdogan said during an address to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile. The Turkish leader is currently on a tour of Latin American states. Erdogan said that those who linked Islam and terrorism were giving support and courage to terrorist organizations. “On the contrary, Daesh is harming Islam with what it does,” said Erdogan, warning that the approach of associating terror with a religion or an ethnic group empowered xenophobia and racism, which he described as a “disgrace in the history of humanity”. The trade exchange between Turkey and Latin American countries has expanded 800 percent over the past decade, to $10 billion in 2014, and Ankara has opened new embassies around the region. Erdogan said he planned to continue forging closer ties, according to AFP. SM/IINA