About four years ago, on March 15, 2019, the terrorist Brenton Harrison Tarrant, who carried out a double attack on a mosque and an Islamic center in Christchurch, New Zealand, left behind a 73-page "manifesto". In Tarrant's lines, the emphasis on the supremacy of the white race mixed with expressions of hostility towards Islam and Muslims. It was understood that Tarrant, who made references to all civilizations established by Muslims throughout history, from Andalusia to the Ottoman Empire, had a complete Crusader logic. Tarrant had engraved the names of historical cases and personalities symbolizing the "war against Muslims" on the automatic weapon he used during the attacks. One of them was Serbian Miloş Obiliç, who martyred Sultan Murad Hüdâvendigar on the battlefield after the First Kosovo War (1389).On January 9 last year, Serbian police and security guards marched with red berets, which are the symbol of special units called "Scorpions", at an official ceremony held in Republika Srpska, one of the political structures that make up the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. shouted the name of Stefan Nemanic (d. 1199) Moreover, the scorpions consisted of people who participated in the Srebrenica Genocide in 1995, in which thousands of Muslim Bosniaks were massacred. Moreover, although the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina had officially banned such racist marches, thousands of Serbs enthusiastically attended the ceremony.

And finally, last Saturday (January 21), a provocateur named Rasmus Paludan, who is known for his hatred of Islam, organized a so-called "action" in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, in which he burned the copy of the Qur'an in his hand. While the fact that Paludan chose the front of the Turkish Embassy for this job did not go unnoticed, the Swedish administration announced that they evaluated this open arrogance within the framework of "freedom of thought and expression". The language chosen by the world's media when announcing the burning of the Qur'an was also quite different. A significant part of them preferred the term “anti-Türkiye action”.

If you draw a line from New Zealand to Serbia and Sweden, you might be amazed at how such distant and unrelated ends line up along the same lines. However, there is nothing to be surprised about. Facts that have been formed over the centuries and have taken root in the minds are scattered around like this. The main surprising point here is that we often overlook or tend to forget this subconscious that still exists in the form of a living vein in the world.

I think that we should look at the latest incident that rightly angered, upset and took to the streets as a warning that reminds us of our identity and where we stand/will stop. Why didn't Rasmus Paludan choose the embassy building of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia or any other Muslim country when determining the place of provocation? It is clear that the issue is not just about the recent political tensions between Türkiyeand Sweden or the discussions about Sweden's membership in NATO.

To grasp the subject in all its dimensions, it is necessary to look at our embassy building in Stockholm from Paludan's point of view. Seeing the crescent-star symbol in Swedish lands, which was not under the domination of any other Muslim rule, let alone the Ottoman Empire throughout history, came to Paludan in New Zealand, Bosnia, Serbia (France, Netherlands…) It must have reminded us of the "nightmare" that descended on many anti-Islamic actors. While the minds were transferred from the crescent and star to the Ottoman Empire, Kosovos, Mohacs, Niğbolus come to life in the memories...

The modern world, international system, democratic norms, UN resolutions, etc. Then, even though the fault lines in the subconscious of the nations escape our notice, the truth is fading out at the hands of a brainless provocateur. Islam is on the agenda, Muslims are on the agenda, the Qur'an is on the agenda...

And all international research and academic reports reveal that Islam is currently the fastest-spreading religion in the world. Despite all the negligence and laxity exhibited by its members at the point of this saintly religious representation...