By Our Reporter
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday criticised his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to defend his country’s secular values against “radical Islam” as an “open provocation”.
This is the third successive day of Turkish anger at Macron’s plan to “liberate Islam in France from foreign influences”, adding to a growing list of disputes between the two presidents.
Macron last week described Islam as a religion “in crisis” worldwide and said the government would present a bill in December to strengthen a 1905 law that officially separated church and state in France.
He announced stricter oversight of schooling and better control over foreign funding of mosques.
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“Macron’s statement that ‘Islam is in a crisis’ is an open provocation beyond disrespect,” Erdogan said in a televised address.
“Who are you to talk about the structuring of Islam?” he asked, accusing him of “impertinence”.