Turkey on Monday condemned the reversal of French author Samuel Patti following France’s disappointment at not being officially condemned by Ankara.
A spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “We strongly condemn the brutal assassination of our grandmother Samuel in France and reject this barbaric act.” Ibrahim Kalin tweeted.
Grandmother was attacked on the street and killed two weeks ago for showing her students the Prophet (pbuh) their cartoons during a class on free speech.
French President Emmanuel Macron has angered Muslim-majority countries, including Turkey, which is officially secular and has a strong anti-Islamic stance that began to emerge before the grandmother’s assassination.
After repeated calls to Erdogan Macron for psychiatric tests, Paris responded by recalling his ambassador to Ankara.
On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed frustration that Turkey had not issued a statement condemning the teacher’s assassination.
At the same time, Kalin Protected Anger of Muslims over their caricatures of the Prophet (pbuh).
“Some people do not understand how we love our Prophet more than we do. They should not come around with their heads outstretched as to how we insult him.
“They may call our affection‘ frenzy ’and that is their misfortune,” Kalin said.
“We will explain this to them diligently and in the best possible way,” he said.
Following Le Drian’s comments on Sunday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the country was “saddened” by Grandma’s murder, which was reported to French officials by the ambassador to Paris.
Turkey joins calls to boycott French goods
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday joined the demand for a boycott of French goods, sparking a confrontation between France and Muslim countries over Islam and freedom of speech.
Erdogan has led the charge against President Macron for mocking religion as part of freedom of speech following the assassination of a schoolteacher.
On Monday, the Turkish leader added his voice to calls for citizens in the Arab world to stir up French material.
“Never lend or buy French-named goods,” Erdogan said in a televised address in Ankara.
Among other Gulf countries, French goods have already been pulled from supermarket shelves in Qatar and Kuwait, while people in Syria have burned images of Macron and burned French flags in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
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