UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM ERDOGAN
By Sibel Ugurlu
ANKARA (AA) - We will not stoop to the level of French critics of Islam by attacking their sacred values, said Turkey’s president on Tuesday, blasting a French proposal for the removal of some Quranic verses.
Addressing his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the 300 French authors and politicians who signed the manifesto making the proposal "obviously know nothing about the Quran".
"I wonder if they ever read their own holy book the Bible, or the Torah, or the Zabur. If they read them, I guess they would want them to be banned. But they don’t have such problems," Erdogan said.
Turkey has several times warned Western countries about anti-religious approaches, xenophobia and fascism, Erdogan said.
"Even if you attack our holy book, we will not do the same [...] We will not stoop to your level and attack your sacred values," he added.
"You are no different than the Daesh terrorist group," Erdogan said at an opening ceremony at the Bestepe Culture and Convention Center later on Tuesday.
On April 21, 300 prominent French figures, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, signed an open manifesto demanding that some parts of the Quran, which they claimed contain violence and anti-Semitic references, be removed.
Erdogan also raised the issue of the 1915 events.
Erdogan said Turkey had opened more than 10 million archived documents so far.
"Now, the archives of our Turkish Armed Forces have been totally opened. They are all ready to be reviewed," Erdogan said, adding that the archives of the Presidency were also opened.
Turkey's position is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia in 1915 took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.
Ankara does not accept the alleged genocide, but acknowledges that there were casualties on both sides during the events of World War I.
Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide," but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy for both sides.
Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to tackle the issue.
"If you trust yourselves, come on. We have opened all our archives; if you also have [such archives on the Armenian issue], you can also open them," Erdogan said.
Erdogan blasted those who contested Turkey's version of events and accused them of spreading smears to depict the country in a bad light.
"You are not going to manage to do it, because we are right," he said.