Turkey threatens legal, diplomatic action over Charlie Hebdo’s caricature of Erdogan

[Stelio Kontos]

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/2...ure-of-erdogan

Turkey on Wednesday vowed to take "legal and diplomatic actions" over a Charlie Hebdo cartoon mocking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marking the latest escalation in a worsening spat with France. The French government has said it will not give in to "destabilisation and intimidation".

"We assure our people that necessary legal and diplomatic actions will be taken against this cartoon," the Turkish presidency said in a statement issued Wednesday morning. Minutes later, the Ankara prosecutor's office launched an "official investigation" into the publication, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Turkish anger at the caricature added fuel to a row between Turkey and France about the magazine's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which flared after a French teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded outside his school in a Paris suburb earlier this month after he had shown pupils the cartoons in a lesson on freedom of speech.

"We strongly condemn the publication concerning our President in the French magazine which has no respect for any belief, sacredness and values," presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin wrote on Twitter.

"They are just showing their own vulgarity and immorality. An attack on personal rights is not humour and freedom of expression," he said.

The cartoon on the cover of Charlie Hebdo showed Erdogan sitting in a white T-shirt and underpants and holding a canned drink, along with a woman wearing an Islamic hijab.

“I condemn this incorrigible French rag's immoral publication concerning our president,” Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay wrote on Twitter. “I call on the moral and conscientious international community to speak out against this disgrace.”

France won't give in to 'intimidation'

Tensions between France and Turkey increased over the weekend when Erdogan said French President Emmanuel Macron needed a mental health check, prompting France to recall its ambassador from Ankara.

Macron mounted a staunch defence of France's secular tradition after Paty's killing earlier this month, and vowed to crack down on Islamic radicalism, in particular by closing mosques suspected of fomenting extremist ideas.

That prompted Erdogan to accuse Macron of unfairly targeting France's Muslim community, and fuelled the latest diplomatic spat between the two NATO allies in recent months.

Erdogan has led calls for a boycott of French products. France, in turn, has called on its EU allies to take measures against Turkey following the boycott call.

On Wednesday, France's government spokesman said the country would not give in to "destabilisation and intimidation attempts", and would continue its fight against Islamic extremism.

France "will never renounce its principles and values," spokesman Gabriel Attal said after a cabinet meeting, underscoring "a strong European unity" behind its stance.

EU slams boycott calls

The European Commission has warned that Erdogan's comments make Turkey's stalled bid to join the EU an even more distant prospect.

"Calls for a boycott of products of any member state are contrary to the spirit of these obligations and will take Turkey even further away from the European Union," a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Turkey and France are both members of the NATO military alliance, but have been at odds over issues including Syria and Libya, maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

At a summit earlier this month, EU member states agreed to review Turkey’s behaviour in December and threatened to impose sanctions if Erdogan's “provocations" do not stop, a council statement said.

On Monday, EU spokesman Peter Stano said he would not rule out an urgent meeting of EU ministers at an earlier date following Erdogan’s comments and boycott calls.

“We clearly expect a change in action and declarations from the Turkish side,” Stano said at a news conference. He said there would be many discussions “to see whether we are going to continue to wait or take action earlier”.

And just to make sure people know to avoid this terrible, horrible picture, here it is.

Mod Edit: Keep in mind that photos or cartoons of a racy nature shouldn't be posted in the OP. A link was made above. Additionally don't share images if the point is to taunt religious groups or people it may offend.

It's be a real shame if this picture continue to spread online. A real shame indeed.

[ParanoiD84]

Erdogan should fuck off.

It's a good picture though.

[The Butt Witch]

Erdogan dismantled everything that Ataturk built, as well as the dream of joining the EU at some point. All that is gone now. Turkey is politically isolated, and the only thing they're still a part of is NATO, which is also going away fast as Turkey can't stop making buddy-buddy with Russia and the global bad guys while snubbing America and the West in general.

Of course the actual Turks don't give a shit, they keep voting for this jackass.

[Gref]

Not turkey, just erdogan. as to why people voted for him, it is the same reason why people voted donald trump. but his days in the office numbered.

[Deja Thoris]

The Turkish Lira is worth a third of what it was 5 years ago compared to major currencies.

That basically tells you how well hes doing.

[niztheundead87]

yes and now germany will say , to keep it down , while selling guns to turkey

[Acidbaron]

It's a distraction, however what worries me is the out of touch turks in Europe, generally young single men that are being indoctrinated in movements like "Gray Wolves".
What promotes all sort of outdated thinking and values with a heavy nationalist undertone, it is the enemy of progression, modernization and critical thinking. Luckily it's only a minority.

[Daedius]

They, as well as Erdogan, can fuck off. Hope they never join the EU.

[josykay]

Does he now try to use, a weird paragraph existing in french law since the 1870s which was about insulting royal houses, like he attempted in Germany?

Also, it is kind of ironic, that his voter base, that keeps voting him constantly are turks, who are permanent residents or citizens of other nations, but not people living in Turkey.

[Themius]

More bigoted punching down by Hebdo. What a shock.

[lonely zergling]

-snip-
[Infraction]
Since the mods censored this in the OP, here it is again. It would really be a shame if this picture is seen by people.

Also bonus material:



This isnt worse than making fun of Trump / Putin / Winnie. Satire is used to punch up to the powerful.

[Thekri]

More bigoted punching down by Hebdo. What a shock.

I fail to see how targeting a influential world leader is "punching down" from a satirical magazine, particularly as that particular world leader has been feuding with France for a decade now. Still, I do agree that a lot of Hebdo's work is in pretty bad taste, it is rude, crass, and deliberately offensive. But that is their brand, that is what they do, it is like South Park or Family Guy in that respect.

The offensiveness of the work in question is entirely not the point. The insane overreaction to it is the point. When they published "offensive" cartoons of Mohammad, they literally died for it, and a random school teacher got beheaded this year for just showing it. That is completely disproportionate no matter what the offense. The government of Turkey going after them because the Baby in Chief got offended is not quite as disproportionate as straight up murdering them, but still ridiculously over the top in any other context.

The faster Erdogan and other thin skinned extremists can get over the bullshit premise that the world must be inoffensive to their tastes, the better. This equally applies to PETA, various insane SJWs (Which is almost impossible to use unironically these days), the PRC, the RNC, the NRA, Hobby Lobby, Bernie Bros, Progressives, Conservatives, Moderates, and every one else under the sun who loses their damn mind when someone offends them.

[luc54]

More bigoted punching down by Hebdo. What a shock.

How is it punching down? It's wannabe sultan of Turkey that's being insulted. Are caricatures of other dictators/wanna-be dictators such as Trump, Kim Jong-un and Xi Jingping also a terrible idea?

[Mormolyce]

Why are these cartoons always so goddamn terrible? They look like they belong on r/boomerhentai, only worse somehow.

[Thrundi]

More bigoted punching down by Hebdo. What a shock.

How is that bigoted ?

[luc54]

Why are these cartoons always so goddamn terrible? They look like they belong on r/boomerhentai, only worse somehow.

How do you know such subreddit even exists? Unless...

[PC2]

Less advanced countries can't handle criticism and mockery without going insane and having a meltdown... Kudos to Charlie Hebdo for having a backbone.

[AeneasBK]

There was a young fellow from Ankara,
Who was a terrific wankerer.
Till he sowed his wild oats,
With the help of a goat,
But he didn’t even stop to thankera.

Courtesy of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

[Bodonius]

To bad so many muslims agree with him. Even a journalists in sweden say that the dead teacher in France provoked the action. (About the original picture, not the one on Erdogan)

[AeneasBK]

Even a journalists in sweden say that the dead teacher in France provoked the action. (About the original picture, not the one on Erdogan)

I mean, he quite clearly *did* provoke it.