Updated 2 hours ago
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Image source, Getty Images
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Turkey and France have been involved in conflict on a number of issues recently.
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Turkey has declared it is determined to take “legal and diplomatic” steps regarding the caricature of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
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The cartoon depicts the Turkish president lifting a woman’s headscarf.
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Official media say Turkish prosecutors have started an official investigation into the satirist magazine.
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Relations between France and Turkey have been strained after President Emmanuel Macron vowed to take firmer steps against radical Islamic groups.
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Protests have also heated up in a number of countries including Bangladesh, Kuwait, Jordan and Libya with calls for a boycott of French goods.
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Erdogan also filed criminal charges against Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), the far-right party in the Netherlands, for “insulting the president”.
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The allegations are related to Wilders’ comments on social media, as reported Anadolu, Turkey’s official news agency.
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Wilders is one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing politicians and has played a key position in the immigration debate in the Netherlands over the past decade, even though he has never served in government.
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On Saturday, Wilders posted a cartoon of Erdogan and labeled it “terrorist”.
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Two days later, he posted a picture of the sinking ship with the Turkish flag on it. “Bye bye @RTErdogan. Get Turkey out of NATO,” he tweeted under the image.
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Erdogan’s lawyers, who filed the suit with Turkish prosecutors’ authorities in Ankara on Tuesday, said Turkish courts had jurisdiction over the matter.
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The reason was that the insult was directed at the Turkish president, Anadolu reported, citing documents submitted by his team of lawyers.
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Image source, Reuters
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Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders spoke to the media following the verdict in his appeal at Schiphol near Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in early September.
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The complaint filed by Erdogan’s lawyer said the Dutch politician’s social media posts cannot be viewed in the context of freedom of thought and opinion.
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It said the statement “offended” the dignity and honor of the president.
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Wilders’ tweets come amid the latest debate about Islam and what Ankara describes as growing Islamophobia and “fascism” in Europe.
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On October 25, Erdogan issued a statement urging Wilders to “know yourself”.
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“We don’t have fascism in our book. You have fascism in your book,” he said.
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Other Turkish government officials also widely criticized Wilders for the tweet, using the hashtag #TerroristGeertWilders.
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Turkish-Dutch relations soured in 2017 when Dutch officials refused to allow Turkish ministers to attend events in the Netherlands that were presented by the country’s Turkish community when Turkey held a constitutional referendum.
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In 2018, the two countries began to normalize relations with the appointment of ambassadors.
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What is the response of the Dutch government?
Dutch Prime Minister (PM) Mark Rutte said Erdogan’s lawsuit was unacceptable.
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“I have a message for President Erdogan and the message is very simple. In the Netherlands, we consider freedom of speech to be one of the rights we value most and that includes caricatures, including politicians,” he said as reported by Reuters news agency.
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Ankara has long criticized the views and policies put forward by Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV).
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How did the Turkish officials react?
Image source, Getty Images
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President Erdogan has involved Turkey in several regional conflicts.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Sunday described Wilders as a “racist loser” who is trying to win support with hostility towards Islam and foreigners.
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“It is time for Europe to stop spoiled politicians who are fascist minded,” Cavusoglu said on Twitter.
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Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party and an ally of Erdogan, said on Tuesday that Wilders had “dark links” with terrorist organizations.
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“The weakened leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) has stooped so low that he called our president a terrorist.
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“He has shown who the real terrorists are, fascists and barbarians,” Bahceli told members of his party in parliament, still quoted by Reuters.
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The move comes a day after Erdogan urged Turkey to boycott French goods over an image of the Prophet Muhammad on display in France, which many Muslims consider blasphemy.
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Siapa Geert Wilders?
Wilders often shocked Dutch political circles and offended Muslims.
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He was released in a 2011 hate speech on a statement that equated Islam with Nazism and called for a Quranic ban.
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Image source, Reuters
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Iraqi protests in Baghdad over Macron’s statement about the publication of the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
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Last month he was acquitted by an appeals court on charges of discrimination, although the court upheld the charges against him.
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Wilders is accused of leading calls for “fewer Moroccans” in the Netherlands at a 2014 rally.
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In 2016 he was convicted of allegations of insulting the group and inciting discrimination.
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But the 56-year-old anti-Islam politician called the case a political show court and challenged the ruling.
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He argued that his comments should be protected by the country’s right to free speech.
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