Erdogan Urges Turks to Boycott French Goods

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Turks to boycott French goods in a row over France's tougher stance on radical Islam.

In a televised speech, he urged world leaders to protect Muslims "if there is oppression against Muslims in France".

Erdogan has bitterly criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for his commitment to protect secularism against radical Islam, reports BBC.

It comes after a teacher was killed for showing Prophet Muhammad's cartoons.

Samuel Paty was beheaded on 16 October by 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov outside Paris, after showing the images to his students during a free speech lecture.

Macron has paid tribute to Paty, and said France "will not give up our cartoons".

Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are generally considered as a taboo in Islam and are insulting to many Muslims.

Yet state secularism-or secularism-is fundamental to France's national identity. Curbing freedom of speech to preserve the feelings of a specific society undermines solidarity, the state argues.

What's the dispute about?

Erdogan called for the boycott in a televised speech on Monday.

"Never give credit to French-labelled goods, don't buy them," he said in the capital Ankara.

He said Muslims are now "subjected to a lynch campaign similar to that against Jews in Europe before World War II", adding that "European leaders should tell the French president to stop his hate campaign".

Over the weekend, Erdogan said that Macron needed a mental health check to speak so forcefully about Islam-comments that prompted France to recall its ambassador to Turkey for consultations.

It came after Macron had vowed to protect secularism and to combat radical Islam in the aftermath of Paty 's murder.

Two weeks before the attack, Macron described Islam as a religion "in crisis" and announced new measures to tackle what he called "Islamist separatism".

France has Western Europe's largest Muslim population, and some accuse the authorities of using secularism to target them.

What's been the reaction?

European leaders have come out in support of France. Germany expressed "solidarity" with Macron after the Turkish president's comments, with government spokesman Steffen Seibert calling the remarks "defamatory" and "completely unacceptable" and foreign minister Heiko Maas calling Erdogan's personal attacks "a particular low point".

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands "stands firmly with France and for the collective values of the European Union", while Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also expressed his "full solidarity" with Macron.

"Personal insults do not help the positive agenda that the EU wants to pursue with Turkey," he wrote in a tweet.

But Turkey is not the only country to criticise Macron's comments. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the French president of "attacking Islam" in a tweet on Sunday, while French products have been removed from some shops in Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar. There have also been protests in a number of countries, including Bangladesh, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

Meanwhile, French footballer Paul Pogba has denied reports that he planned to quit international football over Macron's comments about Islam.

The Manchester United midfielder dismissed the "total fake headlines" in a post on Instagram and said he was taking legal action against publishers.

Citing Turkey's statistical institute, Reuters news agency reports that France is the 10th biggest source of imports into Turkey. The French company Renault is reportedly one of the leading car brands by sales in the country.

How are France's relations with Turkey?

Erdogan's calls for a boycott come after months of rising tensions between France and Turkey.

Although both countries are members of NATO, they support various sides in the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as in Libya's civil war.

Macron also clashed with Erdogan over Turkish oil and gas exploration in contested waters in the eastern Mediterranean. In August, France sent jets and a frigate to the area in the midst of tensions.

And in January, Macron accused the Turkish president of breaking a promise to stay out of the conflict in Libya.