Turkey's Ruling Party Defends Erdogan, Condemns Europe's Fascists

Turks stand in solidarity with Erdogan

For the second day in a row, leaders of Turkey's Justice and Development Party, led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, continued to condemn the waves of hatred directed towards Turkey and its leader Erdogan. This follows a caricature published by the French weekly magazine, Charlie Hebdo, which Ankara described as cheap, targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who seems to remain in power after the presidential and parliamentary elections held last Sunday.

Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said, "Now that this piece of cloth (the magazine) has become extremely crazy, it means that Turkey is on the right path." He continued on his Twitter account, "Such evil strengthens us and do not worry, CH (the magazine) our nation will give you the best answer with a louder voice on May 28," the day of the second round of the presidential elections.

Kalin's comments came after Charlie Hebdo published a caricature of Erdogan in a bathtub on its cover, referring to the death of the folk singer "Claude François", nicknamed CloClo, in 1978 from an electric shock while bathing. Regarding Erdogan, Charlie Hebdo said: "Like CloClo, only fate saves us from him (Erdogan)"

"To the magazine and its organizers "no matter what you do, you cannot scare Recep Tayyip Erdogan. You can't push us off our path," thus denounced Omar Celik, the spokesman of the ruling Justice and Development Party. He wrote on Twitter: "Charlie Hebdo is a bulletin for hate speech and their hatred targeting our president is a product of their fascist mentality. Our nation has shown the world once again our commitment to democratic values as a leader who has won dozens of elections, President Erdogan has proven his respect for the power of democratic will at every turn. He added, "We leave the fascists in Europe to their hatred". According to Sabah newspaper, the voice of the presidential palace in the capital Ankara, the masses of the people across Anatolia expressed their deep anger and condemnation of what the French magazine disgusted in their country and their leader. Except for the media loyal to the government, opposition-associated newspapers and media ignored the matter altogether.