Turkish President Slams French Group’s Statement on Quran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted angrily to a group of some 300 French personalities who urged prominent Muslims to denounce what they call anti-Jewish and anti-Christian references in the Quran.
Addressing a ruling party meeting on Tuesday, Erdogan described the group that includes actor Gerard Depardieu, singer Charles Aznavour and the former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, as "despicable" and accused them of attacking scriptures sacred to Muslims.
The group signed a manifesto which was published in Le Parisien newspaper last month. The statement urged Muslims to denounce some references so "no believer can refer to a holy text to commit a crime."
Erdogan suggested other holy books had controversial references, saying: "If they had read it, they would probably ask for the Bible to be banned but they have no such concern."
"I wonder if they ever read their own holy book, the Bible, or the Torah, or the Zabur. If they read them, I guess they would want them to be banned. But they don’t have such problems," Anadolu Agency quoted the Turkish president as saying.
"Even if you attack our holy book, we will not do the same... We will not stoop to your level and attack your sacred values," he added.
