Pakistan Joins Turkey in Denouncing Macron’s Conduct

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday joined Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of “attacking Islam” and “provoking Muslims” after the French leader condemned the brutal murder of a history teacher who used cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in his classroom. According to Khan, Macron chose to encourage Islamophobia by allegedly attacking the entire faith rather than the perpetrators themselves and also intentionally aggravated French Muslims by endorsing the display of similar cartoons, which are considered blasphemous to some Muslims. Earlier on Sunday, Paris recalled its ambassador to Ankara after Erdoğan lashed out at Macron, claiming the French president needed “some sort of mental treatment” for his behavior following the shocking murder. After Samuel Paty was beheaded in Paris for using a caricature of Muhammad in his class on freedom of expression, the French president promised to crack down on radical Islamism in his country.