Former Turkish president calls on Muslims to denounce Paris attack

ANKARA

Former Turkish President Abdullah Gül. AA Photo

Turkey’s former President Abdullah Gül has joined the condemnations of the shooting in Paris that killed 12 people at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, calling on the Islamic world to denounce the incident.

“I condemn the brutal terrorist attack on magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in the strongest possible of terms,” Gül, who handed over the presidency to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in early September, said in a statement.

“It is clear that this kind of violence is totally immoral and against the fundamental precepts of any religion, and indeed of Islam,” he added.

“The perpetrators of this barbaric act not only betrayed and tainted Islamic values and principles, but also targeted millions of European Muslims who have nowhere to live other than Europe,” he said.

Gül also called on the Islamic world and all Muslims to denounce “the inhuman attack and demonstrate solidarity with the people of France against religious extremism.”