Ankara, SAEDNEWS, Oct. 28: Turkey has blasted controversial French magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing "loathsome" so-called caricatures purportedly of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as pressure mounts on France over its anti-Muslim policies. "Charlie Hebdo just published a series of so-called cartoons full of despicable images purportedly of our President. We condemn this most disgusting effort by this publication to spread its cultural racism and hatred," Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter.
"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," Altun said. While underscoring Turkey's position of being opposed to any violence and acts of terrorism against civilians, he said: "We will not remain silent in the face of disgusting attacks on our culture and religion no matter where it comes from. The racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic incitements will not be able to provoke us into reciprocating in kind," he added.
Altun called on all "sensible" European friends to fight back against "this kind of primitive cultural racism, intellectual barrenness, and uncivilised discourse." Turkish presidential aide Ibrahim Kalin said the aim of these "immoral and shameless publications" was to sow seeds of hatred and animosity. "Everyone with common sense should condemn and reject this disgusting publishing." (Source: TRT)
