Categories: Foreign PolicyIFP Exclusive

Turkey’s Erdogan: Ashura cause for unity between Islamic countries

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ashura, the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram, when the third Shia Imam, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was martyred in 680, is a symbol of equality between Muslims and a cause for unity among Muslim countries.

During a meeting with Iran’s new Ambassador to Ankara Mohammad-Hassan Habibollah-Zadeh on Thursday, President Erdogan said Turkey and Iran should increase cooperation to fight terrorism and Islamophobia and enhance unity in the Islamic world, according to a report by ISNA.

Habibollah-Zadeh submitted his credentials during the same meeting.

Erdogan said Turkey and Iran could conceivably increase bilateral trade to 30 billion dollars a year, and demanded that officials from both countries make efforts to remove obstacles in the way of the realization of that goal.

Habibollah-Zadeh said both countries planned to boost cooperation, including in regional and international issues.

Meanwhile, millions of Muslims are mourning Imam Hossein (PBUH)’s martyrdom anniversary across Iran and some other otheries.

Ashura, or the tenth day of the month of Muharram on the Islamic calendar, is the peak of the Battle of Karbala, when in 680, Imam Hossein and only 72 of his companions faced off with the forces of the tyrant ruler of the time, Yazid, the second Umayyad caliph, and were all martyred.

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