Turkey has reacted with outrage after French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published a front-page that showed a cartoon of Turkish president Recep Erdogan lazing in a chair, drinking a beer and lifting the burka of a woman to reveal her bare buttocks. The speech bubble reads:
"Ooh, the prophet!"
The cartoon comes on the back of a diplomatic spat between France and Turkey after Turkish President Recep Erdogan claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron needed 'mental checks' after he suggested that Muslims within France were not properly integrating into French society. Earlier this month, a history teacher in France, Samuel Paty, was beheaded by a Chechen refugee after he showed a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed in class as part of a debate on freedom of speech. He had asked Muslim students to leave the class beforehand if they weren't comfortable seeing the image.
Fahrettin Altun, a senior aide to President Erdogan, tweeted:
"French President Macron's anti-Muslim agenda is bearing fruit! Charlie Hebdo just published a series of so-called cartoons full of despicable images purportedly of our President."
The so-called caricatures are loathsome and they are devoid of any real sense of human decency. It’s clearly the product of a xenophobic, Islamophobic, and intolerant cultural environment the French leadership seems to want for their country.
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) October 27, 2020
Our President has been the most humanitarian leader in recent memory by leading the way in embracing millions of refugees around the world. Those who have not lifted a finger to help women, children and the disabled are now targeting our leader with their obscenity.
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) October 27, 2020
These kinds of irresponsible and senseless attacks on our culture will only breed racism and discrimination. We call on all sensible European friends to fight back against this kind of primitive cultural racism, intellectual barrenness, and uncivilized discourse.
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) October 27, 2020
Protests erupted around the world at the French President's remarks that freedom of speech and France's secular tradition would be maintained no matter what. With many threatening to boycott French products.
The Charlie Hebdo magazine, a left-wing, anti-fascist and anti-religious publication that makes fun of all religions and political groups, has been attacked by Islamic terrorists on three occasions in the past. In 2015, 12 people who worked for the magazine were murdered after publishing a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed.
Unlike France, which has laws protecting freedom of speech, Turkey has the highest number of imprisoned journalists in the world with Erdogan also jailing opposition politicians and activists. He has also been known to fund Islamic jihadis that have operated in the Libyan and Syrian civil wars. Turkey, despite its secular past, is no longer considered a functioning democracy by human rights groups and international observers.
In 2019 Turkey invaded Northern Syria, where it carried out war-crimes against the Kurdish people and is currently violating international maritime law in the Eastern Mediterranean. In response to this, France has sent its navy to back up Cypriot and Greek forces in deterring illegal Turkish incursions.
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