Daesh actions fuel Islamophobia says Turkish rights body

ISTANBUL

Islamophobia in the United States and Europe has worsened due to Daesh and the refugee crisis, an Istanbul-based human rights association claimed on Thursday.

“Media organizations have fed this hostility [against Islam] through the way they report while politicians have echoed this with their speeches,” the International Center for Watching Violations of Rights, or UHIM, said in its 2015 report on human rights violations around the world.

The group claimed 2015 was filled with violation of rights in all segments of life.

Mentioning Islamophobic incidents in Europe and the U.S., the group asserted that there were more than 1,000 incidents in Germany, adding that 800 refugee dormitories have been attacked.

In the U.S., according to the association, a group staged a meeting with their guns against Islam while one firm developed a special gun to kill Muslims.

The Istanbul-based body also labeled Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trumps’ outburst against Muslims as Islamophobic.

On Dec. 8, Trump suggested barring all Muslims from entering the United States.

Also, the group stated Muslims in France have been considered “potential terrorists” following the Charlie Hebdo and Nov. 13 Paris attacks.

Daesh claimed the multiple attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that killed 130 people while gunmen murdered 12 people in an assault on the offices Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly.

On refugee crisis, the UHIM said thousands of people had lost their lives on their journey to Europe.

The year 2015 was the deadliest on record for refugees trying to reach Europe by sea, with 3,771 deaths recorded in the Mediterranean alone, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.

Ayhan Kucuk, chairman of the human rights group, said Europe failed to do a good job during the refugee crisis, especially not in resolving root causes of the issue.

The report said many European countries put up walls and set up barbed wire to stem the refugee flow.

More than one million refugees arrived in Europe by sea this year, the UN refugee agency said Wednesday.