Turkish gov't in fury over Charlie Hebdo's Erdoğan cartoon
Top Turkish officials condemned a caricature scorning President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Oct. 28. "We strongly condemn the publication concerning our President in the French magazine which has no respect for any belief, sacredness and values," presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın wrote on Twitter, while Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said that Macron's "anti-Muslim agenda is bearing fruit."
Duvar English
Top Turkish officials condemned a caricature scorning President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Oct. 28, calling it a "disgusting effort" to "spread its cultural racism and hatred."
Turkish anger at the caricature added fuel to a row between Turkey and France about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, which flared after a teacher who had shown pupils the cartoons in a lesson on freedom of speech was beheaded in France this month.
"We strongly condemn the publication concerning our President in the French magazine which has no respect for any belief, sacredness and values," presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın wrote on Twitter.
"They are just showing their own vulgarity and immorality. An attack on personal rights is not humour and freedom expression," he said.
The cartoon on the cover of Charlie Hebdo, showed Erdoğan sitting in a white T-shirt and underpants, holding a canned drink along with a woman wearing an Islamic hijab.
“Oh, the prophet!” the cartoon Erdoğan exclaims. Charlie Hebdo captioned the caricature: “Erdoğan: In private, he’s very funny.”
Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said "Macron’s anti-Muslim agenda is bearing fruit!"
"We condemn this most disgusting effort by this publication to spread its cultural racism and hatred," Altun wrote on Twitter, while also calling the cartoons "despicable."
Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who is also Erdoğan's son-in-law, was among the officials who condemned Charlie Hebdo.
"I strongly condemn the French magazine that attacked our President under the guise of freedom of expression. What Charlie Hebdo did is not humor, but rudeness! It's the hatred toward Islam over our President," Albayrak said.
Erdoğan sharply criticised Macron at the weekend, saying the French leader needed a mental health check, prompting France to recall its ambassador from Ankara. On Oct. 26, Erdoğan urged a boycott of French products.
The Prophet Mohammad cartoons, considered blasphemous by Muslims, have been displayed in France in solidarity and Macron has said he would redouble efforts to stop conservative Islamic beliefs subverting French values, angering many Muslims.