Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has received Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Turkish House, in New York City, on the sidelines of 78th UN General Assembly, discussing bilateral ties and growing violence against Muslims.
The two leaders discussed advancing relations between Türkiye and Malaysia on the basis of a strategic partnership and addressed regional and global issues affecting both countries during an exchange of ideas, Türkiye's Communications Directorate said in a statement on Wednesday.
They also discussed steps to enhance cooperation in the defence industry and evaluated efforts aimed at meeting Malaysia's needs in this field, the statement added.
President Erdogan is continuing to engage in meetings at the Turkish House during his visit to New York.
He also spoke with representatives of Jewish-American umbrella organisations in a separate meeting held behind closed doors, sources said.
Earlier, the president also met with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Quran desecration
Both leaders strongly condemned the recent desecration of the Quran and populist discourse that incites hate speech against Islam.
In a joint statement issued after the leaders' meeting, they also expressed concern over the emergence of a "new form of racism" characterised by xenophobia, negative profiling and stereotyping of Muslims.
The leaders condemned "in the strongest terms the recent incidents of the burning of copies of the holy Quran witnessed in several European countries under the guise of freedom of expression as well as populist discourse that incites abuse, hate speech and aggression against Islam and Muslims," the statement said.
President Erdogan and Ibrahim also expressed "deep concern" about "the trend of increasing hatred, intolerance, discrimination and acts of violence against Muslims and their sanctities that has reached an alarming level in many parts of the world, especially in Europe."
The leaders said they welcomed the adoption of General Assembly Resolution 76/254 to declare March 15 as the "International Day to Combat Islamophobia" as well as the urgent debate during the 53rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to discuss the "alarming rise" in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred as manifested by the recurrent desecration of the holy Quran and the adoption of an UN Human Rights Council resolution defining the burning of holy books as religious hatred.
The leaders also welcomed General Assembly Resolution 77/318 on Promoting Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Countering Hate Speech adopted on July 25.
