Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan he insulted French President Emmanuel Macron for restrictive measures against individuals and organizations linked to radical Islam after the killing of Samuel Paty, the middle school teacher beheaded on October 16 in the northern suburbs of Paris, after he showed satirical cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed during a lecture on freedom of expression:
“But what’s the problem with that guy named Macron with Islam and Muslims? Macron needs mental treatment. “
Erdogan added: “What else can be said about a head of state who does not understand freedom of faith and who behaves this way despite the fact that millions of people living in his country have a different creed from his?”.
After Erdogan’s intervention, France withdrew its ambassador to Turkey. A president official told the news agency AFP that «President Erdogan’s comments are unacceptable. We ask that it change direction because it is dangerous from every point of view ». For months, relations between France and Turkey have been very tense several reasons: the war in Libya, the Cyprus question, the intervention in Syria, as well as the secularism of French society opposed to the transformation of Turkey into an increasingly religious state during Erdogan’s presidency.
– Read also: France and Turkey are at loggerheads
The defense of secularism and the fight against radical Islam are among the issues that have engaged the government of Emmanuel Macron the most in recent years. A few weeks ago, the French president announced a new bill with harsh measures against “separatism”, a term he has used for some time to indicate the fact that many members of the Muslim community would live in a “parallel society”, porous to fundamentalism Islamic and contrary to the values of the French Republic. The government has recently announced that the bill, which is expected to be presented to the Council of Ministers in December, could be further strengthened.
– Read also: The actions of France against radical Islam
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