At the Dialogue Society, we strongly condemn the recent heinous and brutal terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut that resulted in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of innocent people.

Once again we strongly emphasize that terrorism is a fundamental threat to the peace and tranquility of society. Those acts of terrorism cannot be justified by any reason and shouldn’t be condoned by any group whatsoever.

Such horrific actions represent an assault on human dignity and universal values.

We offer the families of the victims and the people of France and Lebanon our heartfelt condolences. We wish those injured a speedy recovery and pray for peace, unity and patience between communities around the world. We call upon everyone to stand together with solidarity and united against such murderous acts. 

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Notes to editors

1. The Dialogue Society was established in London in 1999 by British Muslims of Turkish background who were inspired by the teachings and example of Fethullah Gülen. It aims to promote dialogue and advance social cohesion by connecting communities through discussion forums, courses, capacity building publications and outreach. The Dialogue Society is not a religious or ethnic organisation, but rather aims to facilitate dialogue on a whole range of social issues, regardless of any particular faith or religion. It stands for democracy, human rights, the non-instrumentalisation of religion in politics, equality and freedom of speech. For more information, see: www.dialoguesociety.org.
2. The Dialogue Society's recent publications include the report called ‘Violent Extremism Naming, Framing, Challenging’ which broaches the difficulties in naming ‘violent extremism’, offering examples of problematic language use and drawing on relevant work in the field of cognitive linguistics. The other publication, which is an exploration of the Islamic basis for dialogue and intercultural harmony and respect, entitled 'Dialogue in Islam'. These books and our other publications (including a policy paper, 'Deradicalisation by Default') are available at: http://www.dialoguesociety.org/publications.html.