CHP leader challenges Erdoğan to practice his boycott on French goods

ANKARA

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to practice his call for a boycott on French brands while criticizing the president for having failed to realize his pledge.

Speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting on Oct. 27, Kılıçdaroğlu said that the Turkish citizens fail even to buy French products due to their decreasing purchasing power, let alone boycotting these brands.

“You do it, my brother, the palace socialite does that. It is as if the bus driver will go home in the evening and tell [his wife], ‘I bought you French perfume.’ The man cannot even find bread,” the CHP leader said.

He called on Erdoğan to close the French Renault factory in Turkey, “if he can.”

“You say these words, but you don’t stand by them,” Kılıçdaroğlu stated.

Erdoğan on Oct. 26 called on Turks to boycott French goods as he continued sharp criticism of French leader Emmanuel Macron over his attitude towards Muslims.

“As it has been said in France, ‘don’t buy Turkish-labelled goods,’ I call on my people here. Never give credit to French-labelled goods, don’t buy them,” Erdoğan said during a televised speech on Oct. 26.

The president also said on Oct. 24 that Macron had a problem with Muslims and needed mental checks -- a rebuke that caused France to recall its ambassador from Ankara.

His call came after a debate over France’s policies toward Muslims that has been gaining a new impetus after the murder of a teacher in France.

A teacher named Samuel Paty was beheaded in France by an 18-year-old Chechen for showing blasphemed drawings of Muhammad during a class on freedom of speech. Caricatures of Muhammad are forbidden by Islam.

Macron vowed this week that his country would not “give up cartoons” depicting the prophet.