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German Chancellor Angela Merkel commented on Monday on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attack on his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, following the latter’s remarks on Islam.
Merkel denounced Erdogan’s statements, calling them “defamatory”.
“These are defamatory statements and they are totally unacceptable,” Merkel’s spokesman Steven Seibert said, especially in the context of the “horrific murder of French professor Samuel Bate by an Islamic fanatic.”
Earlier Monday, Erdogan called on all world leaders to support oppressed Muslims in France.
He noted that the attack on Islam and Muslims “began with the encouragement of the President of France (Macron), who needed mental treatment.”
“Hostility towards Islam and Muslims has become a policy supported by the presidents of some European countries,” he said.
Erdogan addressed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying: “Where is the freedom of religion you claim? How can more than a hundred police officers raid a mosque in your country?”
The Turkish president noted that German police raided a mosque at the time of dawn prayer “is not an ordinary event.”
Erdogan warned Europeans that they could not capitalize on hostility towards Islam and Muslims.
He added that racism and Islamophobia are two psychological illnesses that destroy a person’s mental faculties, regardless of their job or position.
On Islamophobia, Erdogan said: “The European Parliament cannot ignore this issue, and it is the one that always expresses its opinion on all issues related to our country.”
On Sunday, Erdogan renewed his call for his French counterpart to undergo mental tests, a day after Paris withdrew its ambassador to Ankara, in the context of similar statements.
Erdogan went on to address Macron, “Why are you trying to be busy with Erdogan over and over again? Being busy with me will not win you anything.”
He added that France “will witness elections in about a year, and we will see the fate of Macron then, and I think his end is not far off, because he did not benefit France at all, so how can he benefit himself?
Last Saturday, the French presidency denounced the statements of the Turkish president. She said in a comment: “President Erdogan’s statements are unacceptable. The escalation of rhetoric and vulgarity is not an approach to negotiate. We ask Erdogan to change the course of his policy because it is dangerous at all levels. No we will enter into sterile arguments and we will not accept insults “.
Call for a boycott
The statements made by Macron last week, in which he promised that France would not abandon the principle of freedom to publish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to preserve freedom of expression, provoked the wrath of the Islamic world against France.
On Sunday, France urged Middle Eastern countries to prevent retail companies from boycotting their products, saying they come from a “radical minority.”
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that recent days have seen calls in many Middle Eastern countries to boycott French products, especially food products.
“These calls for a boycott are unfounded and must cease immediately, as well as all attacks against our country that are being driven by an extremist minority,” the statement said.
He added: “The calls for a boycott are absurd and must stop immediately, as should all attacks on our country that are behind a radical minority.”
“We appreciate freedom; we guarantee equality; brotherhood, we live it strongly. Nothing will make us return,” Macron wrote shortly after.
It should be noted that the volume of trade between France and the Arab countries in 2018 amounted to about 65,000 million dollars.
On Monday, voices were raised in France against calls to boycott French products.
“We will not give in to blackmail,” said Geoffroy Roux-de-Pisio, president of Medef’s most prominent employers’ union, calling on French companies to prefer his “principles” to business.
On Monday, French Culture Minister Roselyn Bachelot called for “calm” and explained that France is not against “the Muslims of France”, but is fighting “extremist Islam and terrorism.”
