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After a verbal attack by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against French head of state Emmanuel Macron, France called its ambassador in Ankara for consultations.
“What kind of problem does this person named Macron have with Islam and Muslims?” The French head of state was the target of a verbal attack by the Turkish president on Saturday.
REUTERS
Macron had declared war on radical Islamism in France after the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty a week ago. The history teacher was the victim of a brutal assassination attempt in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris.
REUTERS
France has been rocked by Islamist attacks for years: more than 250 people died.
fake images
“President Erdogan’s words are unacceptable,” the French news agency AFP quoted on Saturday night, citing the Elysee Palace’s motives for the departure of the Ankara ambassador. “We do not engage in useless arguments and we do not accept insults,” he said. The Turkish president is asked to change the course of his dangerous policy.
Erdogan did so Saturday morning at a congress of his AKP party in Kayseri in Central Anatolia against “worrying signs of growing Islamophobia in Europe.” As an example, he cited Macron, among others, who declared war on radical Islamism in France after the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty a week ago. Paty was murdered by an 18-year-old with Russo-Chechen roots after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in class.
Discussion on freedom of belief
Macron promotes an Islam that is “compatible with the values of the republic.” The strict separation of Church and State is a fundamental principle of the French constitution.
“What kind of problem does this person named Macron have with Islam and Muslims?” Erdogan asked at Saturday’s event. Macron should be in psychological treatment, the Turkish president added. His French counterpart does not understand freedom of belief.
At the same event, Erdogan had also criticized the police raid on a Berlin mosque. On Wednesday, around 150 police officers searched several businesses and a mosque in the German capital on suspicion of fraud in the crown grant. Erdogan had previously described the process on Twitter as racist and Islamophobic.
