One of the surviving hostages is escorted by police. (Photo: screenshot)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan implied on Tuesday that ‘the West’ was behind the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the Hyper Cacher terror attack Paris last week, even though they were perpetrated by Muslim terrorists back by Al-Qaeda. He further alleged that the West was deliberately blaming Muslims for the attack, and accused them with hypocrisy.
“The West’s hypocrisy is obvious. As Muslims, we’ve never taken part in terrorist massacres. Behind these lie racism, hate speech and Islamophobia,” Erdogan said. “Please, the administrations in those countries where our mosques are attacked need to take measures,“ he said, relating to some acts of vandalism which were recorded in Europe in the wake of the massacres in France.
Erdogan insinuated that French security services may have known about the attack or may have even been behind it, but did nothing to prevent it. “French citizens carry out such a massacre, and Muslims pay the price. That’s very meaningful … Doesn’t their intelligence organization track those who leave prison?” he asked rhetorically.
“Games are being played with the Islamic world, we need to be aware of this,” he ambiguously warned.
Turkey Bans New Charlie Hebdo Edition
The cover of the post-terror attack edition of Charlie Hebdo edition. (Photo: nrg.co.il)
Erdogan warned of Islamophobia and plotting, but was quick to ban the circulation of the post terror attack edition of the Charlie Hebdo magazine, which sports a cartoon of Mohammad on its front cover.
Turkish police raided the printing plant of a Turkish newspaper that was producing excerpts of the Charlie Hebdo edition, NBC reports, ensuring that the potentially offensive cartoon would not be disseminated in Turkey.
“Nowhere in the world is the press freer than it is in Turkey. I’m very sure of myself when I say this,” Erdogan boasted in a televised speech to a conference in Ankara in December. “The press is so free in Turkey that one can make insults, slander, defamation, racism and commit hate crimes that are not tolerated even in democratic countries.”
Turkish PM Says Israel and Terrorists Are on Par
Turkish PM Davutoglu. (Photo: Photoreporter/Shutterstock)
The latest Turkish insult was voiced on Thursday by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu when he compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Muslim terrorists who carried out the attacks in Paris, saying both had committed crimes against humanity.
“Just as the massacre in Paris committed by terrorists is a crime against humanity, Netanyahu, as the head of the government that kills children playing on the beach with the bombardment of Gaza, destroys thousands of homes … and that massacred our citizens on an aid ship in international waters, has committed crimes against humanity,” Davutoglu said referring to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas terrorism in the summer and its preventing of the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship from arriving at Gaza in 2010.
Foreign Minister, Avigdor Liberman, called Erdogan an “anti-Semitic bully” on Wednesday for criticizing Netanyahu’s attendance, with other world leaders, at a solidarity march in Paris on Sunday.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf rebuffed Erdogan criticism on Wednesday by stating: “We certainly believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s presence in Paris, along with other world leaders, sends a meaningful message of solidarity with the people of France and against acts of terror…we disagree with President Erdogan’s characterization of the state of Israel.”
By: Atara Beck, World Israel News