Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned Europe’s treatment of Turks yesterday as he used a fiery speech to urge the continent’s Muslims to stand up and fight for their rights in “failing democracies.”

His call at a massed rally in Sarajevo, Bosnia was met by ringing cries of “Allahu akbar ” and “Sultan Erdogan” from thousands of expatriate Turks, the Times reports.

“The European countries that claim to be the cradles of democracy have failed,” he told 15,000 cheering members of the Turkish diaspora, many of whom had travelled from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

“European Turks must show their strength to the whole world,” he said. “You need to be in those parliaments instead of the ones who betray our country.