Ilmars Znotins—AFP
Turkish leader says it is the responsibility of politicians to show their positions on all incidents.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized U.S. President Barack Obama’s silence over the killing of three Muslim students in North Carolina, urging him Thursday to take a position over the triple shooting.
“Three Muslims have been murdered in North Carolina and President Obama, [Secretary of State John] Kerry and [Vice President Joe] Biden have not made any statements about it,” Erdogan said during a visit to Mexico. “As politicians, we are responsible for everything that happens in our countries and we have to show our positions,” he said alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City’s National Palace.
Tuesday’s triple murder in the North Carolina university town of Chapel Hill has sparked accusations in the Arab world of double standards by American media in their coverage of the attack. Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammed Abu-Salha, 21, and her 19-year-old sister Razan Mohammed Abu-Salha were shot dead by a neighbor whose Facebook page was filled with anti-religious posts.
Police said they were investigating the crime as a parking dispute, but families of the slain students repeated their belief it was a religiously motivated attack. The alleged shooter, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, has been charged with murder. Thousands of people gathered for the victims’ funeral on Thursday.