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President of France Emmanuel Macron made a statement on his official Twitter account yesterday (May 28) regarding Le Point magazine's cover where the President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was referred to as "Le Dictateur" (The Dictator).
Emmanuel Macron said, "It is unacceptable that the cover poster of Le Point magazine has been removed because it offends the enemies of freedom. The freedom of the press is priceless; without it, here would be a dictatorship".
Il est parfaitement inacceptable que des affiches de @LePoint soient retirées des kiosques de presse au motif qu’elles déplaisent aux ennemis de la liberté, en France comme à l’étranger. La liberté de la presse n’a pas de prix : sans elle, c’est la dictature.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) 28 Mayıs 2018
What happened?
In the district of Avignon in France, a group of people from Turkey had the cover of Le Point magazine, in whose cover the President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was referred to as "Le Dictateur" (The Dictator), removed from the advertising board by force. The group also attempted to replace it with an Erdoğan poster.
After this incident, the Mayor of Avignon Joris Hébrard had the cover poster put on back in company with the police and stated that the act of the group was "unacceptable." Hébrard also made a call to the Prosecutor's Office to launch an investigation.
While the event ignited a debate over freedom of expression, the magazine was criticized as well on social media, yet it was expressed that the publication was within the scope of freedom of expression.
On a statement on Twitter, the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir said that they support Le Point and said, "Intimidation against free media and trying to export censorship to other countries is unacceptable." (YT/PT/SD)
Translation from French into Turkish: Yağız Tanrıvermiş
