(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Turkish leaders, calling for mutual understanding and respect for differences in society, offered their greetings in messages they released to mark Eid al-Adha.
Calling for peace, President Abdullah Gul said, "We can preserve our unity only through respecting our differences and by showing sympathy towards each other, which is the key tool to lift Turkey to a more prosperous level."
“I hope the best for our country on this feast of Eid al-Adha and send my greetings to all Islamic countries, wishing that this feast will put an end to violence all over the world, in our neighboring territories especially,” Gul added.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also issued message to mark Eid al-Adha, offering his holiday greetings to people in Turkey and Islamic communities.
“There is the soul of peace within this geography. We all share a fate, share a faith. Thank Allah, progressing all together, with the soul of unity, we managed to get over all the adverse conditions we went through as a community with many trying to ruin the sense of unity within our nation," Erdogan said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, meanwhile, congratulated Eid al-Adha (also called feast of sacrifice) of all Turkish citizens as well as Muslims living in other countries.
He practised the Eid prayers early in the morning with his fellow countrymen in Turkey's central Anatolian province of Konya.
"We deeply feel and share the pains of our brothers in Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Gaza, Myanmar, Somalia, and all across the world," Turkish minister noted. "Millions of Muslims around the world cannot fully enjoy the Eid because of the pains and troubles. May Allah bless them help and patience."
According to figures announced by Saudi officials, this year 1.3 million Muslim pilgrims gathered on Mount Arafat near Mecca on Monday, marking the most important and essential ritual of the hajj pilgrimage.
Muslims from 188 different countries traveled to Saudi Arabia for the hajj this year.
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