German Foreign Minister Maas in Lebanon

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas should use his visit to Lebanon to emphasize that he takes the concerns of the Christian communities and other minorities in the region seriously. "We welcome Maas' initiative to offer assistance to Lebanon with regard to the Beirut disaster – but the Christian peoples' fears of a growing influence of radical Islamists can no longer be ignored," stated Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East Consultant, in Göttingen on Wednesday. He warned that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is smuggling more and more Sunni jihadists into Lebanon, thereby increasing his influence in the region. Further, he said it was high time to protect the religious minorities especially.

"We expect Mr. Maas to show solidarity with the Christians in Lebanon – and to assure them that he will exert influence on NATO partner Turkey," Sido stressed. "If radical Islam as supported by Erdogan continues to spread in Lebanon, Christians will have no future there." Over the past decades, the Syrian regime, Iran, and the Saudis had massively and destructively interfered in Lebanon, also by financing armed militias such as the Shiite Hezbollah. Turkey's interference, the attempt to instigate a new Sunni-Shiite conflict in the region, is absolutely irresponsible.