If the Prophet’s cartoons weren’t already enough of a friction, the satirical magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’ further raised the tension between France and Turkey by dedicating its cover to Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Insults to the president are illegal in Turkey and for this reason the Prosecutor’s Office announced the opening of an investigation. The presidency also issued a statement in which it announced its intention to adopt “the necessary legal and diplomatic measures” in the face of what it described as “an abject caricature.”
The Islamist leader, who ‘Charlie Hebdo’ represented in his underpants and lifting the hijab to a waitress to see her ass, interpreted the cover as “one more step to increase tension” and denounced “the launch of a new Crusade” of the West , with Fracia at the head, against Islam.
The relationship between the two countries has been deteriorating day by day since Emmanuel Macron gave a speech on the crisis of the values of Islam and called for an end to “separatist Islam.”
Then came the murder of Professor Samuel Paty at the hands of a radical Islamist, who cut off his head for showing cartoons of the Prophet in a class. Macron declared that France did not plan to give up showing these drawings because it considers it an exercise in freedom of expression and anger erupted among those Muslims who consider it an outrage.
Erdogan has been the beacon of the campaign against Macron, joined the initiative to boycott French products and said that his French counterpart needs “a mental review.” Turkey thus overshadows Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the two countries that traditionally led this time of movements when an act considered offensive to Islam took place.
After several days of silence, the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, took a position in this controversy and pointed out that “if people have the right to express what comes to mind through their thoughts, I imagine that this ends when the people are offended. feelings of more than 1,500 million people ».
The protests, so far without deaths or injuries, have spread through Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq, Gaza, Indonesia, Mauritania, Iran … and the French authorities asked their citizens residing in these countries to take extreme precautions, stay away from the demonstrations and avoid the crowds.
Tomorrow’s prayer, Friday, the holy day for Muslims, will be the thermometer to gauge the mood of those who are offended by President Macron’s words.
The Supreme Leader of Iran also broke his silence on Wednesday to describe Emmanuel Macron’s words as “stupid”. A group of protesters gathered in front of the French Embassy in Tehran and there flags were burned amid shouts of support for the boycott of that country’s products.
Iranian President Hasan Rohani warned of the “risk of violence” that insults to the Prophet can provoke and pointed out that “freedom of expression must be accompanied by values and ethical considerations.”
