Muslim world starves for peace, tranquility, serenity: President Erdoğan

The Muslim world is in desperate need of peace, tranquility and serenity, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday.

Speaking after an iftar, fast-breaking dinner, in the capital Ankara, Erdoğan said: "As in Syria, dictators can turn their own countries into a pile of wreckage disregarding any rule and morality just to protect their powers."

There is a "Muslim world starving for peace, tranquility and serenity," Erdoğan said.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

Muslims are the first group that is the responsibility of "depressing situation in Islamic world," Erdoğan stressed.