The Christian Perception of the Refugee Problem in Light of the Current Reality conference took place in the Serbian city of Pirot on April 11-14. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, as well as representatives of religious organizations, scientists, political and social figures from 24 countries participated in the event.
"At the heart of the global challenge in the form of a mass fleeing is the Christian-Muslim clash that is constantly escalating and expanding to the size of conflict between civilizations. Over a short period the Old World countries have accepted over 1.5 million people, most of whom are of Muslim origin, and it ruins the prevailing ethnic and religious balance on the continent," the communique reads.
According to the participants of the forum, terrorism closely related to mass migration is a "barbaric response" to consumer and unspiritual nature of the modern Western world.
According to the document, "the conference condemns the cynical agreements between the European Union, Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries that would take back deported [migrants] in exchange for EU financial aid."
Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their crisis-torn countries of origin in the Middle East and North Africa.
In March, Ankara and Brussels reached a deal to put an end to the so-called Balkan route used by migrants to travel through Greece and Macedonia to wealthy EU states. Under the deal, Turkey pledged to take back all illegal migrants who arrived in the European Union through its border, sending in exchange legal Syrian refugees to the bloc on a one-for-one basis.
