President Erdoğan: Macron's statement is a blatant provocation

*Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a statement to mark the "Mosques and Religious Officials Week" at the Presidential complex today (October 6).

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Erdoğan referred to the reconversion of Hagia Sophia museum, which was originally built as a church in the Byzantine period, into a mosque.

"With the Hagia Sophia decision, Turkey has lifted a shadow on itself and removed yet another shackle on its will," Erdoğan said.

Arguing that "racism and Islamophobia is safeguarded by the states themselves in several Western countries," President Erdoğan noted, "Those who mislead people rather than facing up to their own racism and Islamophobia do the greatest evil to their own societies."

'His statement is an open provocation'

According to Erdoğan, "attacking Muslims has become one of the most important tools utilized by European politicians to conceal their failures."

Referring to the recent remarks of President of France Emmanuel Macron within this context, President Erdoğan said:

"Macron's statement of 'Islam is in crisis' that he made in a city densely populated with Muslims is beyond disrespect, it is a blatant provocation.

"We now expect from him to stop acting like a colonial governor and to act like a responsible statesman. His mentioning of 'restructuring Islam' as the President of France is presumptuousness and shamelessness."

WHAT DID MACRON SAY? "Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today, we are not just seeing this in our country," Macron said in a statement that he made outside Paris on October 2. "Secularism is the cement of a united France," Macron reportedly added further, calling radical Islam both an "ideology" and a "project" that sought to indoctrinate children, undermine France's values and create a "counter-society" that sometimes laid the groundwork for Islamist terrorism.

'Some think its only job is with mosques'

Further in his speech, Erdoğan also addressed the criticisms regarding Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs. "Unfortunately, a certain segment of the society thinks that the Presidency of Religious Affairs' area of responsibility is limited to mosques," Erdoğan said, briefly adding:

"In fact, the Presidency of Religious Affairs takes on very important roles in humanitarian aid efforts, education and irshad [spiritual and ethical guidance] activities, resolving disputes among people and combating the foreign perversions in our national constitution."

Natural gas activities in the Black Sea

Other highlights from Erdoğan's speech were as follows:

"In the Black Sea, we have discovered the largest natural gas reserves in our history. In addition to giving hope to our nation in the days of outbreak, this reserve has also made us believe more in greater discoveries.

Opening of Hagia Sophia to worship

"We reopened Hagia Sophia to worship amid prayers, promises and tears. It was one of the biggest dreams of our nation that Hagia Sophia would acquire its identity as a mosque again one day.

"With the Hagia Sophia decision, Turkey has lifted a shadow on itself and removed yet another shackle on its will.

Opening of Sümela Monastery in Trabzon

"With the Sümela Monastery that we opened, we showed that our country had no complexes about religious freedoms. While Turkey has been displaying exemplary behavior in terms of religious rights and freedoms, the atmosphere in the West is the exact opposite." (PT/SD)