French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday released a caricature of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the front-page of its latest edition taking a dig at him over his recent attacks against France.
The front-page caricature of Wednesday’s edition of Charlie Hebdo that was released online on Tuesday night depicts Erdogan in a white T-shirt and underpants, drinking a can of beer and lifting up the skirt of a woman wearing a hijab to reveal her naked bottom.
“Ooh, the prophet!” the character says in a speech bubble, while the title proclaims “Erdogan: in private, he’s very funny”.
Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures targeting Turkish President Erdogan came as a response after a war of words erupted between Erdogan, French President Macron and other European leaders after the beheading of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty by a Islamic terrorist this month.
Following the terror attack on French teacher in Paris last week and the subsequent actions of the French residents to publicly display ‘blasphemous’ Charlie Hebdo cartoons, French President had reacted strongly against the Islamic terror attack and had also vowed that France would stick to its secular traditions and laws guaranteeing freedom of speech which allow publications such as the virulently anti-religion Charlie Hebdo to produce cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Days before French teacher Samuel Paty’s killing, Macron had made a sensational speech saying that “Islam is a religion that is in crisis today all over the world”,” plagued by radical temptations and by a yearning for a reinvented jihad which is the destruction of the other”.
France displays Charlie Hebdo cartoons on government building to express solidarity with deceased teacher
Days after the barbaric beheading of teacher Samuel Paty on the streets of Paris by a terrorist for showing the cartoons of Prophet Mohammad to his students, support poured in for the deceased teacher across the French communities who took to streets to condemn the killing of Samuel Paty.
Amidst heavy security, the locals projected huge images of Charlie Hebdo cartoons and the images of Samuel Paty on a local government building as a symbolic tribute to the deceased teacher.
Charlie Hebdo cartoons, including one of Mohammed, projected onto Montpellier government building. pic.twitter.com/pnhU0EXTsc
— Chris Tomlinson (@TomlinsonCJ) October 21, 2020
These cartoons of Prophet Mohammed have been used by Islamic terrorists as a justification to carry out several attacks especially in Europe. In 2015, Islamic terrorist had attacked offices of Charlie Hebdo after the satirical newspaper had published cartoons that depicted Muhammad, which is strictly prohibited in Islam.
Islamists around the world calls for boycott of France
However, the historic speech by Macron and his pronouncements to tackle Islamic terror has infuriated many Islamic countries, with many Islamic countries, especially Turkey and Pakistan took the lead to denounce the French President.
Lashing out at Macron for saying that Islam is in crisis all over the world, Turkish President had stated, “What is the problem of this person called Macron with Muslims and Islam? Macron needs treatment on a mental level…”.
The Turkish president further claimed, “What else can be said to a head of state who does not understand freedom of belief and who behaves in this way to millions of people living in his country who are members of a different faith. First of all, have mental checks.”
After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out at French President Emmanuel Macron for his alleged Islamophobic comments, Islamists around the world had come forward to boycott French products. Pakistanis, who are perennially unemployed, took to Twitter to trend #boycottfranceproducts. Even Muslims in the Middle East and the Arab world have joined Pakistanis in their calls for boycotts of French products. Shops in Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Palestinian territories have started taking French products off their shelves.
Hard-line Iranian newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz depicted him as a literal devil in its publication while thousands of protestors called him ‘Satan-worshipper’ in Bangladesh.
Not just Muslims in the Arab world but even radical Islamic organisations in India such as Raza Academy had initiated a campaign demanding that Muslim countries issue a fatwa against French President Emmanuel Macron for displaying cartoons on Prophet Mohammed by Charlie Hebdo were projected onto government buildings.
European countries Macron’s stand on free speech, radical Islamic terror
Under intense backlash from Muslim countries, European countries have expressed their support to France and its President Emmanuel Macron for his latest campaign to support free speech and end radical Islamic terror in the region.
European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel have defended Macron after Erdogan suggested he needed “mental checks”.
“They are defamatory comments that are completely unacceptable, particularly against the backdrop of the horrific murder of the French teacher Samuel Paty by an Islamist fanatic,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
Meanwhile, in India, social media users expressed their support to France and trended #IStandWithFrance. Several social media users tweeted with this hashtag people to convey their support to Macron’s strong decision to take a stand against extremism in France.
