Caricatures of Muhammad: Arab countries launch a boycott against France

Maria Laura Avignolo

10/26/2020 12:48 PM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 10/26/2020 12:48 PM

After the beheading of Professor

at the hands of an Islamist terrorist for showing the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in class, the battle of

France

was unleashed

to claim the right to blasphemy, to republish the cartoons, to reaffirm their secularism and launch its project of Islamic separatism, to combat Salafi obscurantism. Paris withdrew the Turkish ambassador, after the insults of its president Recep Erdogan.

against French products and moderate Muslims fear of being stigmatized in France is growing

throughout the Middle East

.

The combat is led by Turkish President Recep Erdogan in secular Turkey.

This head of state, a militant of the "Muslim Brotherhood" like the Qatar regime, strongly denounced the intentions of France, where at least

, although ethical or religious statistics are prohibited.

War of words

"All that can be said of a head of state who treats millions of members of different religious communities in this way is: first go have

," Erdogan said in a televised speech on the occasion of the VII Provincial Congress. of the AKP, the presidential party. Your concern? The "Islamic separatism" that Macron wants to turn into a bill. On Sunday he returned to the attack.

"Unacceptable words," reacted the Elysee, at the end of the day. "We do not accept insults.

are not a method," replied the presidential palace. Immediately withdrew "for consultations" the French ambassador in Ankara. It's "a very strong signal," they say around Macron.

Erdogan called for a boycott of French products in Turkey.

Photo: EFE

The previous call to Paris by a French ambassador "in consultation" dates back to February 2019, to protest against a meeting between Luigi di Maio, then Italian deputy prime minister, and the Yellow Vests.

“We demand that Erdogan change the course of his policy because it is dangerous from all points of view.

We do not get into unnecessary polemics and we do not accept insults ”, continued the French presidency.

This is not the first time that the Turkish president has attacked his French counterpart under this record.

Almost a year ago, Erdogan had already ordered Emmanuel Macron to "examine" his "own brain death", as part of his "tour de force" around NATO.

Macron had said that NATO, of which Turkey is a part, was "brain dead."

Multiple reasons for stress

On the international stage, many issues are currently at odds between Ankara and Paris.

There are the tensions in the Mediterranean due to the

, France's support for Greece with its own fleet in the tension that Greece maintains with Turkey, the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the presence of Syrian mercenaries from Idlib, sent by Erdogan , which is openly involved in the conflict with its air force.

The Turkish president also does not avoid criticism of French domestic politics.

Two weeks ago, Erdogan denounced as provocation the French president's statements on "Islamist separatism" and the need to "structure Islam" in France.

Boycott

President Emmanuel Macron responded to the Turkish head of state and the countries that support the boycott of French products

: English, French and Arabic: “Our history is one of fighting against tyrannies and fanaticism.

We will continue, ”the head of state wrote on his Twitter.

We will not give in, ever.

We respect all differences in a spirit of peace.

We do not accept hate speech and defend reasonable debate.

We will always be on the side of human dignity and universal values.

- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 25, 2020

لا شيئ يجعلنا نتراجع ، أبداً.

نحترم كل أوجه الاختلاف بروح السلام.

لا نقبل أبداً خطاب الحقد وندافع عن النقاش العقلاني.

سنقف دوماً إلى جانب كرامة الإنسان والقيم العالمية.

- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 25, 2020

In particular, Erdogan's criticisms were directed at the bill on the fight against "Islamic separatism" in France, which will be presented in early December.

The French objective is to

pillar of the nation, and to consolidate republican principles in France.

It includes several points that may provoke tensions with Turkey, such as the

reinforced

of the

or the prohibition of the training of imams abroad.

In France, the state does not finance any cult.

They are Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, loyal to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, who intend to finance the mosques, according to their interests.

"Just as in France some say not to buy Turkish brands, I am addressing my nation here: above all, don't pay attention to French brands, don't buy them"

Recep Tayyip Erdogan President of Turkey

The dissolution of the

in France (CCIF), announced by the government after the death of Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old history and geography teacher, beheaded in front of his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), probably also not to the taste of the Turkish president.

The collective is regularly accused of promoting

, close to that of the Muslim Brotherhood, (which has never been proven in concrete terms) to which Erdogan himself is very close.

After the insults, the boycott.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a further step in his dispute with France.

This Monday he called for a boycott of French products.

"Just as in France some say not to buy Turkish brands, I am addressing my nation here: above all, don't pay attention to French brands,

," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

This boycott movement began in several Muslim countries in the Middle East, after Emmanuel Macron's speech in tribute to Samuel Paty.

There he said that they

of the Prophet again because in France blasphemy is not a crime, as in Muslim countries, especially Salafists, where it is paid with the death penalty.

A boy shows a trampled photo of Emmanuel Macron in Istanbul.

Photo: AP

"A lynching campaign similar to that of Europe's Jews before World War II is being waged against Muslims," ​​Erdogan launched in Ankara, accusing some European leaders of "fascism" and "Nazism."

".

"European officials must say stop the hate campaign led by Macron," he insisted.

The boycott against France

.

Qatar suspended the French week.

In Kuwait, travel agents stopped selling trips to France and removed French products from their supermarkets.

In Jordan and Lebanon radical Muslims joined the boycott just as it is beginning in the Maghreb countries.

Through the voice of her spokesperson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel considered the attacks of the Turkish president against his French counterpart "defamatory".

For his part, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte described Mr. Erdogan's comments as

“The Netherlands resolutely defends together with France the common values ​​of the EU.

For freedom of expression and against extremism and radicalism, ”he tweeted.

Paris, correspondent

Look also

Emmanuel Macron's warning to Islamic radicalism: "Islamists will not sleep easy in France"

Moving tribute in France to Professor Samuel Paty, beheaded by an Islamist terrorist