Turkish President Erdogan accuses Europe of treating Muslims like Nazis ‘lynched’ the Jews as Mohammed cartoon row rages
TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Europe of treating Muslims like how the Nazis "lynched" Jews following the Mohammed cartoon row.
He has also called for a boycott of French goods, called European leaders "fascists," and said Muslims are "now subjected to a lynch campaign similar to that against Jews in Europe before World War II."
The attack comes after he verbally bashed French President Emmanuel Macron over his tough stance on Islamic extremism following the beheading of Samuel Paty.
The teacher was brutally murdered by a jihadi in the streets of Paris after showing his schoolchildren cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The 47-year-old teacher was posthumously given the Legion d'Honneur - France’s highest award - and Macron insisted the country would "not give up our cartoons".
Macron defended the teacher, accusing "radical Islamists" of "trying to steal our future."
The President also said that "Islamist separatism" had created a parallel culture in France.
In an ongoing rebuttal, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared the treatment of Muslims to the way Hitler and the Nazis treated Jewish people in the 1930s.
In pre-WWII Germany, Jewish shops were smashed and looted, and Jewish people were segregated from civil life and kicked out of their jobs in a calculated, systemic attack.
Erdogan has also been the most vocal Muslim leader on the political front, saying Macron needed his head examined and had lost his way.
French products are being boycotted in Muslim countries after Emmanuel Macron defended the right to show cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
ONGOING BOYCOTT
Already luxury beauty products made by L’Oreal and Garnier have been stripped from the shelves after the French president’s comments.
Macron’s comment have led Kuwait’s Union of Consumer Co-operative Societies supermarket group to issue an order to boycott French products.
Several of its stores had cleared the shelves of items such as hair and beauty products made by French companies.
Meanwhile, Pakistani PM Imran Khan accused Macron of "attacking Islam" while summoning the French ambassador to explain himself.
In Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's largest economy, a hashtag calling for the boycott of French supermarket retailer Carrefour was trending at the weekend.
France's foreign affairs ministry said there had been calls to boycott French products - notably food products - in several Middle Eastern countries as well as calls for demonstrations over the cartoons.
But France and Macron have stood firm has stood firm in the face of the attacks.
In a Tweet on Sunday, Macron said France respected all differences in a spirit of peace but he also said: "We will not give in, ever."
Using unusually strong language in its response to Mr Erdogan, the French presidency said: ";Excess and rudeness are not a method.
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“We demand Erdogan changes his policy, which is dangerous in all aspects."
Officials also pointed out that Turkey's leader did not offer condolences following the teacher's beheading.
