Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman Yasin Aktay said on Wednesday that a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries imposed by US President Donald Trump was “racist.”
Speaking during a press conference following an executive board meeting of the AKP on Wednesday, Aktay described the Trump administration’s move as “totally against human rights, a big violation of human rights.”
“While people are fleeing those [banned Muslim] countries seeking shelter [in the US], shutting doors to those people — even green card holders – can only be called racism,” he said.
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday barring citizens from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan from entering the country for 90 days and suspended the admission of all refugees for 120 days. The order indefinitely bans entry of those fleeing from war-torn Syria.
While many countries have lambasted the ban, tens of thousands of protesters flooded airports across the United States over the weekend, and tens of thousands of people held protests around the world after Trump signed the executive order.