Turkish parliament condemns Macron over remarks on Islam

ANKARA

The Turkish parliament on Oct. 27 condemned the French president’s remarks against Islam, with support from the lawyers of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Republican People’s Party (CHP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and İyi (Good) Party.

“The representatives of political parties in the Turkish Grand National Assembly strongly condemn provocative, disrespectful and dangerous remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron towards Islam and its beloved Prophet Muhammad and Muslims,” read the declaration.

“We call on the world’s opinion leaders, politicians, philosophers, artificers, and social parts to adopt an attitude towards common sense and peace against this ugly attitude,” it added.

“Anyone who uses discourses that can lead to destructive conflicts between beliefs and societies with various pretexts, including achieving their political goals, consolidating their power and gathering supporters for the conflicts in which they are involved, and who turns to acts that cause hostility or to commit a crime will deeply affect not only the masses they claim to represent but also the whole humanity,” said the statement.

Macron has sparked outrage across the Muslim world by accusing French Muslims of “separatism” and describing Islam as a “religion in crisis.”

This coincided with the murder of a French teacher who showed caricatures of Muhammad in class. Macron paid tribute to him and said France would “not give up our cartoons.”