by Uzay Bulut • December 7th  Recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that French President Emmanuel Macron "needs mental treatment" because of Macron's attitude toward Muslims in France. Erdogan also called for a boycott of French products. The Turkish government's hostile reaction to Europe is not new. Erdogan has been threatening Europe and the rest of the West for several years. Pictured: Macron (right) and Erdogan at a press conference on January 5, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images) That a NATO member and European Union candidate, Turkey, is openly threatening the security of Westerners, is unprecedented. One of the most abusive Ottoman practices was the institution of "devshirme," also known as the "child levy" or "blood tax," with which Christian boys were forcibly abducted from the conquered population, enslaved, converted to Islam and later trained as soldiers. Erdogan evidently sees the Ottoman occupation and abuse of European nations as Turkish "contributions" to Europe. This current belligerence once again demonstrates major differences between Europe and Erdogan's regime. It is a crisis between a mentality that respects a free press versus a mentality that jails critical journalists. It reveals a mentality that wants to preserve the safety of its citizens versus a mentality that aims to force others to submit to its demands through threats and use of terror. It is a mentality that stubbornly believes in violating and even trying to invade the territories of its neighbors versus one that tries to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation. It is Erdogan's regime who targets the safety and freedoms of Europeans -- as well as Armenians, Syrians, Iraqis, and many of his own Turks.
Europe has once again been targeted with Islamist terror attacks. On October 16, Samuel Paty, a history teacher, was beheaded in Paris by an 18-year-old Chechen Muslim who acquired refugee status in France this past March. The teacher was murdered after showing cartoons from Charlie Hebdo depicting Islam's prophet Muhammad to his students, during a discussion on freedom of expression. On October 29, three people were murdered and several others wounded in an Islamist knife attack in the Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption in Nice, France; one victim was decapitated. After the attack in Nice, France raised its nationwide terror alert status to the "maximum emergency" level. Approximately 4,000 military personnel were deployed to guard schools, churches, and other places of worship. Continue Reading Article |
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