Photo:Hülya Karahan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday hit back at ridicule of his claim that Islamic explorers discovered the Americas three centuries before Columbus, accusing his Muslim critics of lacking “self-confidence”.

In an aggressive rebuttal of the criticism heaped in some quarters on his comments

“A big responsibility falls on the shoulders of the national education ministry and YOK (higher education board) on this issue,” Erdogan said at a ceremony in Ankara.

“If the history of science is written objectively, it will be seen that Islamic geography’s contribution to science is much more than what’s known,” Erdogan said in televised comments.