Erdogan says terror groups harm Muslim faith

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed "DAESH, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram terror organisations" on Sunday for abusing Muslim faith more than Islam's worst enemies.

Speaking at an event held in Istanbul to commemorate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad, Erdogan said "All the oppression by those who blatantly abuse Islam and what Islam has [and] appears under the names of DAESH, Boko Haram and Al Qaeda are purely and simply against Muslims."

"Frankly, even Islam's fiercest enemies cannot and have not done harm to Islam these terrorist organisations have done," he said.

Erdogan stated that the notion of "jihad" is misinterpreted due to the so-called "Islamic" terror organisations.

"Jihad is not terror at all. Jihad is not about forming a terrorist organisation and killing innocent people. Jihad actually means to fight the ignorance that let those terrorist organisations emerge," he said.

"Unfortunately, these terror groups are the biggest enemies of Islam. They serve Islamophobia by torturing, oppressing, and killing innocent Muslims."