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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the Turks to boycott French products due to French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to republish insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad “to preserve the secularism of France.”
In a televised speech, he called on world leaders to protect Muslims “if they are oppressed in France.”
Erdogan criticized what he called the Macron-led “hate campaign” against Islam and Muslims in his country.
This came after the murder of a high school teacher who showed his students insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that had previously been published in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
“We are not going to give up our drawings,” Macron said this week.
This was followed by calls on social media to boycott French products, in protest against the French authorities’ position on the controversial drawings.
Amid mounting tension, Erdogan said Macron needs to put his mental health to the test due to his positions on Islam and Muslims, prompting the French Foreign Ministry to summon its ambassador to Ankara for consultations.
The French authorities believe that “secularism of the state” is the essence of national identity and that restricting freedom of expression to protect the feelings of a certain group is a violation of national unity.
What is the subject of the dispute?
Erdogan called for a boycott in a televised speech on Monday.
He said in the capital Ankara, “I don’t trust French brand products, don’t buy them.” He added that “European leaders should tell the French president to stop his hate campaign.”
Tensions rose after the French president pledged to defend secularism and confront Islamic militancy, following the assassination of Samuel. The high school teacher was beheaded in October by 18-year-old Abdullah Anzurov.
Two weeks before the incident, Macron described Islam as a “religion in crisis” and announced a series of measures to confront what he described as “Islamic isolationism.”
Muslims in France constitute the largest Muslim population in Europe, and the French authorities are accused of exploiting secularism to attack them.
Image posted, fake images
Turkey is not the only country to criticize Macron’s comments: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the French president of “attacking Islam”, in a tweet, while French products were removed from store shelves in Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar. And there were protests in Libya, Syria and Gaza.
However, Germany expressed its “solidarity” with Macron after the Turkish president’s statements.
Steven Seibert, the German government harasser, described what Erdogan said as “unacceptable statements,” especially since they came after the heinous murder of the French teacher by an extremist Islamist.
Image posted, Reuters
What are Franco-Turkish relations like?
Erdogan’s call for a boycott came after a month of mounting tension between the two countries.
The two countries are members of NATO, but they support two different parties in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as in the Libyan civil war.
Macron took on Erdogan over Turkey’s oil and gas exploration in the disputed waters of the eastern Mediterranean. France sent warplanes and frigates to the region in August, triggering an escalation of tension.
