Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged Turks to avoid buying French products amid an ongoing call for a boycott across the Muslim world. Erdogan also urged the European Union to stop the“anti-Islam” agenda led by French President Emmanuel Macron. Earlier this month, Macron said that Islam is a religion experiencing crisis across the world, prompting a threat to boycott French products among Muslims. Many Muslims are also angered due to Macron’s support for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The beheading of a French teacher by an Islamist militant has shaken the country, prompting the government to pledge to fight “Islamist separatism.” Following Erdogan’s call, Paris recalled its ambassador from Ankara on the weekend. The French embassy in Turkey also warned French nationals in the country to avoid any gathering in public places.
France is Turkey’s seventh-biggest export market and is tenth-largest source of imports, data from TurkStat showed. Despite being allies under NATO, the two nations have been at odds over several issues, including Syria and Libya conflicts, drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
