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The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Monday called on his fellow citizens to boycott French products, amid a dispute with his counterpart Emmanuel Macron for his statements in defense of the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
“Just as in France some say ‘don’t buy Turkish brands’ I am addressing my nation from here: ‘Above all do not pay attention to French brands, do not buy them “”, Erdogan said.
“There is a lynching campaign against Muslims similar to that of the Jews of Europe before World War II,” he added.
On two occasions this weekend, the Turkish president questioned Macron’s “mental health”, denouncing his positions towards Muslims.
At the root of Erdogan’s anger are last week’s statements by Macron promising that France would not give up cartoons or freedom of expression.
The French president spoke these words in a national tribute to Samuel Paty, the professor beheaded in an Islamist attack for showing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in class.
Accused by Paris of being silent about the professor’s murder, the Turkish presidency ended up denouncing this Monday a “monstrous murder” that “cannot be justified in any way.”
The French president gains support in Europe, starting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Erdogan’s comments against Macron “are unacceptable”. “The Netherlands stands firm with France in defending the common values of the EU. For freedom of expression and against extremism and radicalism, “he wrote on Twitter.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Erdogan’s statements “defamatory” and “unacceptable” and expressed her “solidarity” with Paris.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, also considered them “unacceptable”.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, also expressed their support for Macron.
“Blackmail”
But in the Muslim world, where any representation of Muhammad is taboo, President Macron’s remarks aroused airy reactions.
Since Saturday night French products began to be removed from the shelves of supermarkets in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
In Jordan, several videos on social media showed French products removed from supermarket shelves or replaced by goods from other countries.
The videos were accompanied by tags like #FranceBoycott or #OurProphetisaredline ”(Our prophet is a red line).
In Gaza a few dozen anti-Macron protesters gathered for the second day in a row.
Over the weekend there were demonstrations in Tunisia and in some regions of Syria that only brought together a few dozen people.
In Senegal, the pan-Africanist movement “Frapp-France Dégage” made a “call for a boycott of French products to denounce the indecent, insulting amalgamation between Islam and terrorism, this Islamophobia promoted and plotted by the French imperialist state”.
“We are not going to give in to blackmail,” reacted Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, president of France’s main employers’ organization, Medef, who asked French companies to put their “principles” before business.
Food, luxury goods and cosmetics companies could be particularly affected by this boycott in the Maghreb and Middle Eastern countries.
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