Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's undiplomatic anti-Islam remarks raised a storm of controversy Thursday, but only at home and elsewhere in Europe. So far, no reaction has been reported from the Middle East and Muslim world.
The premier said in Germany that Christianity was superior to Islam.
Briefing Italian journalists in Berlin on Wednesday, Berlusconi said the West "should be confident of the superiority of our civilization" and he urged Europe to "reconstitute itself on the basis of its Christian roots."
"Our civilization is superior to Islam," was the clear message from the Italian leader, said AFP, citing journalists who attended the briefing.
The political opposition and the press laid into the conservative leader for remarks which were, at the very least, ill-judged at a time when the West was trying to rally the Muslim world to join its fight against terrorism.
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose country holds the EU presidency, Thursday deplored Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's remarks on Islam and the West, saying they could have "dangerous" consequences and "feed a feeling of humiliation."
"These remarks could, in a dangerous way, have consequences - rather than bringing civilizations together, they could feed a feeling of humiliation," Verhofstadt told reporters as he boarded a plane to Washington, where he is due to meet US President George W. Bush.
And Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, leading an EU mission to the Middle East, on Thursday denounced Berlusconi's reported remarks as "not acceptable" and "not in line with European decisions and European values," said the agency.
Critics of Berlusconi suggested he had let himself get carried away as he emerged from top-level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on cooperation against terrorism, and with a visit upcoming to the United States.
"Inaccurate and particularly ill-timed remarks," said Piero Fassino, a top official of the former communist Party of the Democrats of the Left.
"We are in a delicate phase in which a joint effort against terrorism is essential, and such comments do not help," he added, according to the agency.
Fassino's rival for the party leadership, Giovanni Berlinguer, said flatly: "Silvio Berlusconi uses words and arguments that no statesman worthy of his position has used in recent times."
Francesco Rutelli, head of the center-left Daisy coalition, branded his remarks as "absurd and ill-timed."
The Italian journalists also quoted Berlusconi as saying that, given its superiority, the West "is bound to occidentalize and conquer new people."
"It has done it with the Communist world and part of the Islamic world, but unfortunately, a part of the Islamic world is 1,400 years behind."
Western civilization, he said, "consists of a value system that has given people widespread prosperity in those countries that embrace it and guarantees respect for human rights and religion."
"This respect certainly does not exist in Islamic countries," Berlusconi added.
Italian newspapers were virulent in their criticism, with La Repubblica saying his remarks carried "a tinge of fundamentalism and a hint of crusade which are extremely dangerous in the current difficult situation."
"In this war (against terrorism), while weapons have not yet spoken, words carry a heavy weight," the paper said.
La Stampa warned that such language could stir up extremists and "play into the hands of all the bin Ladens who want to encourage a clash of civilizations."
Il Manifesto said it was concerned at the presence of a home-grown Taliban-type extremist in the prime minister's office.
"If we allow them to, our Taliban can become more dangerous than those responsible for the massacres in New York and Washington," the paper said.
The daily Corriere della Sera, suggesting Berlusconi was guilty of cultural snobbery, said it "wondered about the political advisability of such remarks in the midst of a difficult crisis."
In the US, President Bush moved to reinforce his message that the war his country is waging is not against Islam or the Arabs, but against terrorism, as he is trying to rally Muslim countries to join the anti-terrorism coalition.
On Wednesday, he held high-profile meeting with Sikhs and Muslims to address the bigotry they have faced since the September 11 terrorist attacks, reported the CBS News.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president was concerned that, despite his repeated calls for understanding, Muslims and anyone who appeared to be of Middle Eastern extraction were still the targets of hate.
Democrats and Republicans are also trying to demonstrate their opposition to religious intolerance. They joined with leaders representing Muslims, Arabs, Jews, Christians and Sikhs at a Capitol Hill event, said the report.
The lawmakers urged Americans not to express their anger about the terrorist attacks by striking out at others because of the way they look or dress or worship – Albawaba.com
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