People prepare to move the flowers after police removed a police line, outside Masjid Al Noor in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 16, 2019.
ISTANBUL, FRIDAY — The New Zealand government is ensuring the safety and security of Muslims in the country. This statement was made by New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters in an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) emergency foreign ministers’ meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday (22/3/2019).
“Ensuring Muslim communities in New Zealand feel safe and secure is a particular focus,” Peters said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu praised New Zealand authorities’ swift actions and sincere messages of solidarity. “Here, we wish to show that we are united as one against acts of Islamophobia in various parts of the world,” he said.
The OIC meeting agreed on a communiqué that denounced the terrorist attacks that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15. Some 50 people gathering in two mosques for Friday prayers were killed by an apparently lone gunman. The OIC communiqué emphasizes solidarity and support for New Zealand in resolving the legal process against the accused.
In the communiqué, the OIC also requests the international community campaign for the end of all forms of intolerance, discrimination, negative stereotyping, marginalization and negative stigmatization of Muslims. OIC member countries also agree to work together with the United Nations and the European Union to monitor Islamophobia and conduct constructive dialogues that strengthen tolerance and interreligious and intercultural harmony.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi attended the OIC meeting. According to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry, Retno said in the meeting that Indonesia condemned the Christchurch terrorist attack and Australian Senator Fraser Anning’s statement in response to it. Anning’s statement was deemed to be irresponsible, offensive and hurtful.
Anning drew sharp criticisms for his tweet on the Christchurch attack, in which he linked the attack with the presence of Muslim immigrants in New Zealand. Earlier this week, Retno called upon Australian Ambassador Gary Quinlan to deliver the Indonesian government’s official response to Anning’s statements.
In the OIC meeting, Retno said that the Christchurch attack served as a reminder that no country was immune to terrorism. The attack also shows that the global community has a poor understanding of Islam as a peaceful religion. “We need to prevent ideas about clashes of civilizations,” she said.
Friday’s prayer at Christchurch
In New Zealand, thousands of locals gathered in Christchurch in remembrance of the 50 terrorist attack victims. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined the congregation of 20,000 people in a moment of silence at Hagley Park in front of Al Noor Mosque, the site of one of the shootings.
On Friday, the mosque’s call to Friday prayers was broadcast live throughout the country. In his pre-prayer sermon, mosque imam Gamal Fouda said, “We are broken-hearted but we are not broken. We are alive. We are together. We are determined to not let anyone divide us.”
During the Friday prayers, locals joined in lines in front of mosques as a show of support for their Muslim brothers and sisters. Women wore headscarves as a show of solidarity. The hashtag #headscarfforharmony became viral on Twitter. “New Zealand mourns with you,” Ardern said in her speech.
Last week, soon after the attack, Ardern declared the shootings in the two mosques to have been terrorism. On Thursday, she announced that the New Zealand authorities had banned semiautomatic and assault rifles.
Then, on Friday, the New Zealand Police said that it was investigating threatening tweets directed at Ardern. The New Zealand Herald reported tweets with pictures of rifles and the statement “You are the next target” had been sent to Ardern. The accounts that sent the tweets have reportedly been frozen.
An alleged white supremacist, Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged in relation to the attack. He is to appear in court a second time on April 5.
Victims of the terrorist attacks were immigrants from various countries, including Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. One Indonesian died and two others were injured in the attack.
