Claim: Erdogan Fails to Condemn Charlie Hebdo Attack in 2015

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Claim: Erdogan Fails to Condemn Charlie Hebdo Attack in 2015

2021-01-18 03:18 GMT
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The Jerusalem Post claims that “Erdogan failed to condemn the murderous Islamist attack on France’s satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, back in 2015.” In the article of Neville Teller in the Jerusalem Post, he writes that “As for the French initiative, France and Turkey have been at odds, diplomatically speaking, for a long time – even before Erdogan failed to condemn the murderous Islamist attack on France’s satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, back in 2015. Relations were certainly not improved in October 2020, when the same magazine printed a cartoon on its front cover mocking Erdogan himself...”

Turkey has always been against terrorism, as underlying that terrorism has no nationality or religion. Furthermore, Ankara has aimed to have strong and stable relations with other countries, including France. It is a false statement that the article says Erdogan did not condemn the Charlie Hebdo attack. Even the same magazine printed a cartoon on its front cover insulting President Erdogan, still, Erdogan did not mix two things together and he did condemn the attack.

When people took part in a rally to show solidarity for the victims of the attack on the offices of France's satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, in Rio de Janeiro, on the 7th of January, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan added his voice to the chorus of reactions after the massacre perpetrated against French satiric weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people on the 7th of January 2015, condemning what he described as a "heinous terrorist attack."

Moreover, President Erdogan said that “We extend our condolences to our friend and ally France and expect the perpetrators to be brought to justice as soon as possible," in a statement published on the 7th of January 2015.

In addition, "Turkey has fought and will continue to fight against all forms of terrorism with determination. We express our heart-felt condolences for the innocent people killed today and wish a quick recovery for the injured. We also wish patience and steadfastness to the relatives of the deceased and the injured and to the people of France," the statement also underlined.

While many Turkish government officials have also stressed the need to fight against Islamophobia, Erdogan used a more encompassing vocabulary, urging a firm stance against "intolerance to differences."

"On this occasion, we would like to stress that terrorism has no religion or nationality and no excuse can be given for it. It is of crucial importance that we have a common stance against terrorist attacks such as the one in Paris today. We have to take a firm stance against hate speech, intolerance to differences and attempts to present religious and cultural differences as ground for enmity," the statement said.

As it can be seen clearly, the Jerusalem Post made a factual mistake by saying that "Erdogan failed to condemn the murderous Islamist attack on France’s satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, back in 2015.” On the opposite of that false statement, Erdogan did condemn Charlie Hebdo attack, back in 2015.