Turkey’s top cleric slams US mosque attack

ANKARA

The head of Turkey’s religious authority strongly condemned on Tuesday a recent arson attack on a mosque in the U.S.

"I strongly condemn such provocative acts that will hurt all Muslims and disrupt the world peace," Ali Erbas, head of the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), said on Twitter.

Stating that such attacks on mosques constitute a "show of Islamophobia", Erbas underlined that the latest attack on the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan deeply saddened Muslims as members of a religion of peace.

In his message, Erbas called on all "who have a conscience, to act against anti-Islamic and inhuman incidents that threaten the common peace and future of humanity."

A mosque in Connecticut has suffered "large-scale damage," an official Turkish body said Monday.

In a statement, the Religious Services Attache of the Turkish Consulate General in New York said an investigation is underway into the fire at the Diyanet Mosque in the city of New Haven and the efforts are ongoing to catch the perpetrators.

* Writing by Nilay Kar Onum