Global Courant
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today blamed what he called “institutional racism” and the country’s colonial past for the violent riots in France.
“In countries known for their colonial past, cultural racism has already turned into institutional racism,” he said in televised remarks after the weekly government cabinet meeting.
“Many of the immigrants there are systematically oppressed, removed from public spaces yesterday forced to live in poor areas or Muslim ghettos”, he explained.
The development comes as the French government is dealing with mass burglaries and thefts in Paris and other cities, since the killing of 17-year-old Franco-Algerian Nahel M.
The young man was shot in the head by the policeman who stopped him during a traffic control, while he was behind the wheel.
But media outlets say Erdogan has often portrayed himself as a defender of the world’s Muslims since his Islamist-rooted party came to power in Turkey two decades ago.
Even yesterday he blamed “Islamophobia” for the riots, which according to him are connected to the country’s colonial past.
“At the core of the events that started in France is the architecture built by this mentality, most of the immigrants who are systematically oppressed are Muslims.”
Erdogan further condemned the break-ins and robberies, saying that the street is not the place to seek justice: “But the authorities must learn from this social explosion.”
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