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Turkey has threatened to take “judicial and diplomatic action” over a cartoon of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, Reuters reports.
This was announced today by the Communications Directorate of the Turkish Presidency. The statement also read:
“Our people must have no doubt that all necessary legal and diplomatic measures will be taken against the cartoon in question. Our battle against these rude, malicious and offensive actions will continue to the end with common sense but also determination.”
Hours earlier, Turkish media reported that Turkish prosecutors had launched an investigation against “Charlie Hebdo.”
Furthermore, Turkish politicians condemned the cartoon during the day, calling it an attempt to “spread cultural hatred and racism.”
The Turkish president’s cartoon was published in the context of the tension between Paris and Ankara following the assassination of French professor Samuel Patti and the subsequent speech by Macron, who declared himself in defense of freedom of expression and cartoons, respectively. The statement sparked a call from Erdogan to boycott French products.
In addition to Turkey, several countries in the Middle East have announced a boycott of French products. In some of them there were also demonstrations against Macron. In this context, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said today that freedom of expression must cease if it offends Muslims.
