Erdogan, Khan, Mahathir vow to fight Islamophobia with English-language TV channel

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced trilateral plans for the launch of a TV channel to 'set the record straight' on Islam.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

26 September, 2019

Mahathir Mohamad [L], Recep Tayyip Erdogan [C] and Imran Khan [R] [Getty]

Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey are working on the launch of an English-language television channel to tackle Islamophobia, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan revealed on Thursday.

Khan announced the plan on Twitter after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

"President Erdogan, PM Mahathir and myself had a meeting today in which we decided our three countries would jointly start an English language channel dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia and setting the record straight on our great religion - Islam," he said in the tweet.

"Misperceptions which bring people together against Muslims would be corrected; issue of blasphemy would be properly contextualised; series and films would be produced on Muslim history to educate/inform our own people & the world; Muslims would be given a dedicated media presence," he added.

The issue of Islamophobia the world's attention earlier this year when 51 people were shot dead at a church in Christchurch, New Zealand. Shocking footage of the attack was filmed by the attacker, 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant, live streamed on social media platforms.

The footage showed a first-person view of the Australian gunning down dozens of worshippers as he stormed through the two mosques.

Amid global outrage over the attacks, Turkish authorities launched an investigation into the gunman, who allegedly published an online manifesto pledging to rid the famed Hagia Sophia in Istanbul of its minarets.

Continued cooperation

Ealier this year, Malaysian leader Mahathir called for a "Muslim renaissance" with Turkey and Pakistan during a state visit to Ankara.

The 94-year-old said the three Muslim-majority countries "should work together… to help relieve the Muslim Ummah [community ] from being subjugated by others."

Erdogan echoed the call saying, unity between the three countries was necessary to bring the Islamic world together. Pakistan's also welcomed the call for the "renaissance".

Malaysia, Turkey and Pakistan are among the founders of the Muslim-majority D-8 group that seeks to establish strategic relations, increased trade, and more cooperation among its members.

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