Muhammad cartoons – boycott against France: relaunch of the cartoon dispute? – News

• After the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron, a new dispute looms over the cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
• Several Arab countries began boycotting France on Sunday. Merchants from Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar brought French goods out of their stores.
• Macron defended freedom of expression last week and sided with those who want to show cartoons.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also launched a verbal attack on Macron. He accused the French president of Islamophobia, doubted his mental health and called Macron, among other things, a case of illness that should be examined. Paris called its ambassador from Ankara in protest, an incident that had never happened before, as the Elysee circles confirmed.

Protests against Muhammad cartoons: 150 people died in 2006

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• In early 2006, more than 150 people died in violent protests against the Muhammad cartoons. The trigger at that time was the cartoons of the Danish newspaper «Jyllands-Posten».
• In 2015 he died in an attack on the French satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo», Which had also shown caricatures of the prophet, twelve people. For devout Muslims, films or images depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a person are offensive and a form of blasphemy.

The background for this is the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. He had defended freedom of expression and had sided with those who want to show or publish cartoons. France will not “do without cartoons and drawings, even if others withdraw from them,” Macron said at a funeral honoring the slain teacher Samuel Paty. He had shown caricatures of Muhammad in class and was beheaded on the street. Islamic tradition forbids representing the prophet.

Macron defended his position on freedom of expression on Twitter Sunday night. Hate speech is not accepted and reasonable debate is defended. “We will always be on the side of human dignity and basic values.” Macron also spread the message in Arabic and English. «Our history is that of the fight against tyranny and fanaticism. We will continue, ”he wrote in French.

It is not the first argument

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The Muhammad cartoons had already sparked violent protests in the Islamic world several times. Relations between the Muslim world and France could deteriorate. Erdogan’s verbal attack on Macron also exacerbates bilateral tensions between NATO partners Turkey and France, which already cross numerous issues.

France called for an immediate end to calls for boycotts. These would distort the positions defended by France in favor of freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and religion, as well as the rejection of any call to hatred, he said this Sunday in a statement from the Foreign Ministry. The statements are being instrumentalized and politicized by a radical minority.