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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a “mental health examination” of Emanuel Macro to ensure the protection of secular values and the fight against radical Islam.
French authorities have subpoenaed Turkey’s ambassador to France after Erdogan made insulting remarks against French President Emmanuel Macro.
Erdogan joked that Emanuel Macro needed a “mental health check” to ensure the protection of secular values and to fight against radical Islam.
“France will not withdraw the cartoon,” Macro said in a statement following the murder of a French teacher in a cartoon about Muhammad.
Taking pictures or portraits of Muhammad (peace be upon him) can seriously damage the religious sentiments of Muslims because depicting Muhammad (peace be upon him) or Allah is prohibited by Islamic religious law.
But the idea of secularism is inextricably linked to French nationalism. According to the state, undermining freedom of expression to ensure protection of the sentiments of a particular community undermines national unity.
“Macro needs psychiatric treatment,” Erdogan said in a speech Saturday in response to Macro’s campaign, which began long before the murder of a teacher to protect the French nationalist conscience.
“What else can you say about a statesman who does not understand the subject of freedom of belief and uses it with millions of people of different faiths living in his country?”
Erdogan raises the question: “Where is the problem with Islam and Muslims in a man named Macro?”
In an interview with AFP following Erdogan’s remarks, a French presidential official said that Turkey’s ambassador to France had been subpoenaed.
“President Erdogan’s comments are unacceptable. Excessive comments and rudeness are not an option. We demand that Erdogan change his political position. This position is dangerous from all sides,” the official told AFP.
Erdogan has been working to integrate Islam into Turkish politics since the AK Party came to power in 2002.
In addition to the recent conflict at the diplomatic level between the two NATO member states, the two countries have been at odds over various geopolitical issues.
Although one country is an ally of another in the NATO alliance, the two countries have different positions on the civil war in Syria and Libya, and the war in Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
A total of seven people, including two students, have been charged with the October 16 murder of French school teacher Samuel Patti. Shortly after the knife attack, the police shot and killed Abdullah Anjarav, Patty’s 17-year-old killer.
In 2015, 12 people, including a cartoonist, were killed in an attack on the office of the French satirical magazine Shirley Hebdo. Extremists attacked the organization’s office for publishing cartoons about Muhammad (PBUH).
Earlier this month, Macro described Islam as a “critical religion” and announced the enactment of stricter legislation to curb “Islamic separatism” in France.
About 10 percent of the population of France is Muslim, more than the Muslim population of any other country in Europe.
Many Muslims have complained that Macro is trying to suppress Islam and that such comments could normalize Islamophobia.
Source: BBC
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