Istanbul, SAEDNEWS, Oct. 27: The gloves have come off again between the presidents of Turkey and France. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Turks to boycott French products amid an escalating dispute over Paris’s support for the right to caricature Prophet Muhammad. The comments on Monday came just days after Erdogan suggested his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, undergo a mental health check-up after he announced a plan “to reform Islam” in order to make it more compatible with France’s republican values.
Describing Islam as a religion “in crisis” worldwide, Macron earlier in October announced measures to combat “radicalisation” among France’s estimated six-million-strong Muslim population. Tensions in France further escalated in the aftermath of the killing of Samuel Paty, a middle school teacher who showed his pupils drawings of Prophet Muhammad during a discussion on freedom of speech. While France’s recalling of its ambassador over Erdogan’s comments is a first, the two leaders have butted heads in recent months over issues ranging from the conflict in Libya to oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean (Source: AlJazeera).
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Macron Needs Mental Treatment!
