Minister: Unity only solution to overcome extremism in Islamic world

Addressing the opening ceremony of 'Mashad 2017' ceremonies on Tuesday, Amiri said that electing the city of Mashad as Asia’s Cultural Capital of the Islamic World in 2017 by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) would be the harbinger of unity message to the world.

He stressed the fact that all Muslims enjoy basic principles, reiterating that today Muslims face an enemy who tends to show a violent face of Islam.

'Enemies are adopting extremist approaches and the Zionists play crucial role in developing disunity and hypocrisy in the Islamic world,' he said.

'Unity should be considered to remove social problems and even poverty,' he said.

'Holding such events will pave the way to create peace and unity in the Islamic world,' he added.

ISESCO elects three countries from amongst African, Islamic, Arab and non-Arab countries annually as the Islamic cultural capital.

'Mashad 2017' ceremonies, kicked off officially in Mashad, the Cultural Capital of the Islamic world on Tuesday at the Imam Reza (AS) shrine in this northeastern Iranian province.

The ceremonies started with participation of over 250 political and cultural figures from 51 world countries as well as Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Reza Salehi-Amiri.

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