A war of words has erupted between French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish leader Recep Erdogan, with the Turkish premier stating that Macron needs 'mental checks' due to his attitude towards Muslims.
The comments were in response to Macron's comments criticising Islamic separatism within France, whereby he believes that too many in the Islamic community, who make up almost 9% of the French population, are not properly integrating into mainstream French society.
Macron's comments came shortly before the beheading of a teacher in France by an Islamic Chechen refugee. The teacher had shown his class a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Mohammed.
"What is the problem of this person called Macron with Muslims and Islam? Macron needs treatment on a mental level. What else can be said to a head of state who does not understand freedom of belief and who behaves in this way to millions of people living in his country who are members of a different faith?"
France and Turkey are currently in a stand-off over Turkish manoeuvres in the Eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey is searching for oil and gas deposits. France sent its navy to the region to back-up Greek and Cypriot forces who claim that Turkey is violating their maritime borders. France has also strongly criticised Turkey for its involvement in the Libyan civil war, where it is arming and financing Islamic militants. Earlier this year France attempted to seize a Turkish ship which was suspected of transporting arms into Libya, the ship refused to stop in violation of international law.
France has been the scene of a vast number of Islamic terrorist attacks in the last decade that have taken the lives of over 300 citizens and wounded hundreds more. Some have suggested that Macron's ramping up in rhetoric regarding the Islamic community is a political ploy to fend off a challenge from the far-right fascist French National Rally party, the recent incarnation of the French National Front. In head-to-head polls, Macron still leads the fascist party by 10 percentage points, however, that gap has been closing as a result of financial hardship and a huge protest movement, the 'Gilet Junes'.
Erdogan has been seen in recent years to promote a strong Islamic doctrine within Turkey, a country that was founded on secular anti-religious principles, and even banned the wearing in public of Islamic headscarves for many decades.
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