Annan: Politics at heart of Muslim-West divide

Politics – and not religion – is at the heart of the growing rift between the West and the Muslim world, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday after scholars, politicians and religious leaders convened in Turkey to discuss ways to improve the increasingly violent relations between the societies.

“We should start by reaffirming and demonstrating that the problem is not the Koran or the Torah or the Bible,” Annan said in a written statement in response to a report by the multinational group of scholars that sets out proposals to overcome the rift.