Turkey reacted strongly on Tuesday to a caricature of its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to appear on Wednesday in Charlie Hebdo, accusing the French satirical weekly of "
cultural racism
".
"
We condemn this utterly despicable effort by this publication to spread its cultural racism and hatred,
" the Turkish President's senior press adviser, Fahrettin Altun, said on Twitter.
He presented this publication as the result of "
French President Macron's anti-Muslim program
".
The cartoon, released online Tuesday night, shows Mr. Erdogan, in a T-shirt and underwear, drinking a beer and lifting the skirt of a woman wearing the veil, revealing his bare buttocks.
A very lively controversy has been opposing for weeks President Emmanuel Macron and his Turkish counterpart, the latter having gone so far as to question the "
mental health
" of the French president about his positions on radical Islamism and freedom. expression.
Charlie Hebdo had published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006 - like other European newspapers - in defense of press freedom after their publication by a Danish daily angered many Muslims.
The weekly was the victim in 2015 of a jihadist attack which killed 12 people, including journalists and cartoonists from the newspaper.