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An economic war has broken out between France and several Islamic countries, following Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call to boycott French products over the widespread display of Mohammed cartoons and his personal dispute with Emanuel Macron.
The reason for the anger of the Muslim world against France is Emanuel Macron’s statements that France will not back down either in terms of (Mohammed’s) sketches or in terms of freedom of expression.
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The remarks were made by President Macron during a memorial service for Samuel Patti, the professor who was beheaded for presenting sketches of Muhammad to his class.
Qatar and Kuwait have already started, while Jordan’s main opposition party has called on the country’s citizens to do the same.
Anger also increased over the weekend in Jordan, where many social media videos showed empty supermarket shelves accompanied by tags like #France Boycott or “#Our Prophet is a red line.”
The demonstrations took place in the Gaza Strip on Monday and Amman tomorrow, with rallies in Tunisia and parts of Syria over the weekend.
Agricultural products, dairy, luxury perfumes, cosmetics, and much more have been featured on social media for boycotting, with the corresponding hashtag written in Arabic.
The French Foreign Ministry has already called on the governments of the countries involved to end this boycott, while most European leaders have condemned the insulting comments of the Turkish president about his French counterpart.
Paris does not plan reciprocal boycotts against Turkish products
Paris is not planning a reciprocal boycott of Turkish products and will continue talks and relations with Turkey and its president, Trade Minister Frank Rister said today.
“There is no retaliation on the agenda,” Rister told RTL radio. However, he reiterated the government’s condemnation of recent comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about French President Emanuel Macron’s treatment of Muslims in France.
Unacceptable comments from Erdogan
Hours earlier, the Turkish president called on the Turks to boycott French products, comparing the treatment of Muslims in Europe with that of Jews before World War II.
Erdogan said on Saturday that Macron had a problem with Muslims and questioned the “mental health” of the French president. He made similar comments yesterday, Sunday, as well as during his speech in Ankara today, broadcast by Reuters.
In the same speech, Erdogan compared the treatment of Muslims in Europe to the treatment of Jews before World War II and accused some European leaders of “fascism” and “Nazism.” “A lynching campaign similar to that carried out against the Jews of Europe before World War II is being carried out against Muslims,” Erdogan said in his speech.
Investors, however, see this as a sign of mounting tensions and this has consequences. The pound sank to a new low and the Istanbul Stock Exchange fell after the previous statements.
French trade union fury: “We cannot give in to blackmail”
“There is no way we can back down from blackmail,” said Medef, head of France’s largest employers’ union, in response to calls to boycott French products in the Middle East in response to the French president’s stance. Emmanuel Macron on the attack. against the principles of the Republic that Islamic circles operate in France.
Joffrey Roux de Bezier called on French companies to put their principles before business.
Today, the Minister of Culture, Roslin Basello, explained that France is not fighting against “French Muslims”, but against “Islamism and terrorism”.
Yesterday, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “the calls for a boycott are meaningless and must stop immediately, as well as all attacks directed against our country, manipulated by an extreme minority.”
A short time later, Emanuel Macron wrote on Twitter: “Freedom, we love it; equality, we guarantee it; brotherhood, we live it intensely. “Nothing will make us give up, ever.”
Freedom, we appreciate it; equality, we guarantee it; brotherhood, we live it with intensity. Nothing will turn us back, ever.
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 25, 2020
“We don’t respond stupidly to stupidity …”
There were also many political reactions, starting with Tayyip Erdogan asking Emanuel Macron to “take a test.” He was followed by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who accused the French president of “attacking Islam”, while the Moroccan Foreign Ministry condemned “the continued publication of insults about Islam and the prophet of the sketches.”
Food, luxury and cosmetic companies are likely to be hit particularly hard by the boycott in the Maghreb, the Middle East and the Middle East.
Asked about the possibility of a reciprocal boycott, Joffrey Roux de Bezier replied: “We do not respond stupidly to stupidity; it is not about boycotting anyone, the issue is the preservation of the values of our Republic.”
The head of Medef clarified that the boycott is currently limited at the local level. According to the French government, the first consequences of the boycott have not yet been assessed.
Strong criticism from the German press
The sharp new confrontation between Turkish President Erdogan and his French counterpart Macron has been widely discussed in the German-language press, according to Deutsche Welle.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) commented: “Erdogan stereotypically invokes the role of victim and accuses Europe of racism against Muslims. Not a word about the crimes committed in the name of Islam by self-proclaimed ‘warriors of God’ in the West, but still more so in Muslim countries. These are not just highly religious people, who may have a hard time adjusting to the secular state, but murderers, often with criminal records, whom they try to cover up with a religious disguise. One can counter calls the boycott, but not the religion they hide. Macron is right when he asks us to confront the enemies of the open society. “Of course, the authoritarian Erdogan sees the realization of freedom as a cultural battle against Islam.”
“Boycott and vulgarity,” reads the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s analysis in another column, highlighting Erdogan’s broader ambitions: “Erdogan’s aggressive policy as a regional power has led to many clashes with France. A leading figure in political Islam, the Turkish President promotes himself, among others, as leader and protector of Sunni Muslims. He is not interested in the applause in Kayseri (where he delivered his last speech against Macron). He has managed it anyway, since the inhabitants of the area are famous not only because of his entrepreneurial demon, but also because of his conservative piety. ”
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