In many Muslim-majority countries, street rallies accompanied campaigns on social media protesting against Macron and France.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Turkish citizens against buying French goods, amid growing calls across the Muslim world for a boycott.
“I call on my people here. Never give credit to French-labelled goods, don’t buy them,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara, TRT reported.
Muslims are threatening a boycott over French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech earlier this month, in which he claimed Islam was a religion in crisis across the world. Many are also angry about the level of support in France for caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
While those in France say the caricatures should be allowed as a matter of free speech, Muslims find the images deeply offensive as they link Islam to “terrorism”, and as any depiction of the prophet is forbidden in Islam.
Decrying rising Islamophobia in Europe, Erdogan said hostility towards Islam and Muslims has become state policy in some European countries.
Macron and Erdogan have sparred over several issues in recent months, including tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, the war in Libya and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
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