Turkey's Erdogan blasts French demands to change Quran

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 onto 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 [Jewish] Torah, or the [Muslim] 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.

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.