The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, today supported a famous imam who caused an avalanche of comments by declaring that homosexuality brings disease and leads to the decline of society.
In the first sermon during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Imam Ali Erbas said on Friday that hundreds of thousands of people are exposed to the HIV virus every year because of homosexuality and adultery and called on believers to unite in the fight against "that kind of evil".
Opposition parties and groups for the protection of human rights condemned the statements of Erbas, who heads the state institution Directorate for Religious Affairs.
On the other hand, Erdogan said today that any attack on Airbus is an attack on the state.
The president of Turkey, whose Justice and Development Party has roots in the Turkish Islamist movement, said Erbas had fulfilled the duties of "faith, wisdom (of Islam) and his office" and added that his words were binding on all Muslims.
He stated that the critical tone against the imam had turned into a "deliberate attack on Islam".
The Ankara Human Rights Association filed criminal charges against Erbas, while the Ankara Lawyers Association accused him of spreading hatred and called for his dismissal, saying it would not be surprising if the imam next called on people "to burn women as witches."
The prosecutor's office said it had opened a criminal investigation against the Ankara Bar Association for "insulting religious values."
Homosexuality is not prohibited in Turkey, but Erdogan's government has banned gay parades and similar events for the past few years, citing security reasons.
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