In the disaster of the terrorist attacks in New Zealand, the whole world has applauded the wise leadership and exemplary interaction of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who immediately declared that what had occurred was a “terrorist act”. The significance of this statement is that it comes from a member state of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, consisting of the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, in which the intelligence services of these countries exchange sensitive information and accurate intelligence on a daily basis.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern showed a clear and sincere sympathy from the first moments with the Muslim community in New Zealand. She provided all possible information about the incident in a transparent and direct manner. She dealt openly with the press and the media and gave them the right to ask any question that came to their mind and dealt with them with full responsibility. She promised an immediate amendment to the law on the possession of weapons in her country and offered condolences to the families of the victims and to the Muslim community and wore a hijab in respect of the feelings of the community.

She also promised that the government would bear the funeral expenses and bury all of those who died as a result of the terrorist act and promised financial assistance to the families of the victims. The New Zealand government has repeatedly reiterated its rejection of any sympathy or understanding of the radical right-wing discourse that resulted in the terrorist incident. Above all, it continued to repeat that what occurred was a terrorist act beyond any doubt.

It has also been decided that the date of the terrorist incident would be marked as an annual event to strengthen the national spirit, and to affirm positive discourse and confront all aspects of discrimination and racism. It also immediately urged the security and judicial authorities to start the trial of the accused and to speed up the process of identifying the bodies of the victims in order to respect the conditions of the Islamic religion by honoring the dead by burying them quickly.

In a world full of evil, accidents, symbols of tyranny and waves of racism and terrorism, Prime Minster Ardern led her country in a moral and principled way that restored hope and her responsible leadership made the people of New Zealand unite to defend Muslims. People volunteered to guard residential buildings and mosques and provided material and moral support. All thanks and appreciation to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.