On the first anniversary of the terrorist attack perpetrated in Christchurch/New Zealand on 15 March 2019, which claimed 51 lives including a Turkish citizen, and left 50 people wounded among them 2 Turkish citizens, we remember the victims with respect.

Turkey continues to play a pioneering role in international platforms regarding the initiatives on fighting against Islamophobia and intolerance, as well as actively supporting efforts in this direction as it did during its Chairmanship of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) between the years of 2016-2019.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack in New Zealand, the Open Ended Emergency Meeting of the OIC Executive Committee was held on 22 March 2019 at the level of Foreign Ministers, in İstanbul. On this occasion, we renew our call for the 15th of March to be declared as “International Solidarity Day Against Islamophobia” by UN and other regional and international organizations, as it was decided at the aforementioned Meeting and adopted at 14th Islamic Summit in May 2019 held in Mecca.