Macron clears his position on the blasphemous sketches issue
French President Emmanuel Macron attend a joint news conference with Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini at the Bratislava Castle in Bratislava Slovakia, Oct. 26, 2018. (Pavel Neubauer /TASR via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron says he understands the feelings of Muslims who are shocked by the blasphemous sketches. However, he said radical Islam, which he was trying to fight, was a threat to all people, especially Muslims.
In an interview with the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, Macron said that the “blasphemous sketches were not the government’s plan but the plan of independent newspapers that are not affiliated with the government.”
“I think the reaction was a lie and a distortion of my words because people thought I supported blasphemous sketches,” he said.
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“I understand and respect the sentiments that have been expressed, but you must also understand my role at the moment, which is to do two things, one is to promote tolerance and the other is to protect these rights.” “There are people in the world today who are misrepresenting Islam and killing and killing in the name of the religion they claim to defend,” he added.
“Violence in the name of Islam is being promoted by movements and individuals. Certainly this is a problem for Islam because Muslims are the biggest victims, more than 80 per cent of those affected by terrorism are Muslims and this is a problem for all of us,” said Macron.
It should be noted that this statement by Emmanuel Macron has come after the growing tension between the French government and Muslims around the world over the issue of blasphemous sketches.
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The French magazine Charlie Hebdo recently republished blasphemous sketches after the trial of those accused of a deadly attack on its staff began in 2015. Emmanuel Macron defended the publication of blasphemous sketches under the guise of freedom of expression.
On October 2, he claimed that Islam was in a global crisis and announced his plan to “reform Islam” in order to bring it in line with the country’s democratic values. This month, a teacher at a French school showed blasphemous sketches published in 2006 by the controversial French magazine Charlie Hebdo during a freedom of expression lesson.
A few days later, a man beheaded the teacher, who was shot dead by police on the spot, and the case was linked to a terrorist organization. Although French Muslims condemned the killings, they feared collective punishment for cracking down on Islamic organizations by the government and attacks on mosques by angry groups.
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Following the incident, the French president called the teacher who showed the blasphemous sketches a “hero” and embodied the values of the French Republic, and awarded him France’s highest civilian honor.
The last rites of the teacher were attopes ended by the French President in Paris, after which the blasphemous sketches published by Charlie Hebdo were displayed for hours on the town hall buildings of two French cities. At a ceremony in the teacher’s memory, the French president made it clear that “we will not give up sketching.”
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His remarks sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world, with anti-France demonstrations in Muslim and Muslim-majority countries, and a boycott of French products in several countries.
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