Turkish PM calls reprinting of Charlie Hebdo cartoons 'deliberate provocation'

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has strongly criticized daily Cumhuriyet for reprinting the Charlie Hebdo cartoon featuring the Prophet Muhammad, saying freedom of expression ?does not grant anybody the right to insult another?s beliefs.?

Cumhuriyet?s move to print a selection of Charlie Hebdo caricatures has ?nothing to do with freedom of expression,? Davuto?lu said on Jan. 15.

?Freedom of the press does not mean freedom to insult. In particular, if it is an insult against a Prophet who has been a ?mercy to the worlds,? and who has a much greater meaning than our personalities and characters, this is not freedom of the press,? Davuto?lu said, using a verse from the Quran when using the description ?mercy to the worlds.?

?It is obvious that people who can even take an insult against them with tolerance and patience cannot take it to the same extent when there is an insult against the Prophet. If some are printing a caricature that features an insult to the Prophet, when this is the situation, when there is such sensitivity in Turkey, then there is a provocation here,? he added.

The prime minister?s remarks, delivered ahead of his departure for Brussels where he was scheduled to hold meetings with top EU leaders, came a day after police stopped trucks leaving Cumhuriyet newspaper?s printing center and checked the paper?s content after it decided to print a selection of Charlie Hebdo caricatures. The paper printed a four-page selection of cartoons and articles in a show of solidarity with Charlie Hebdo.

Cumhuriyet stated that the police allowed distribution to proceed after thinking that the satirical French newspaper?s latest cover featuring the Prophet was not published. However, two Cumhuriyet columnists used small black...