Emirates supports Macron after controversy over Muhammad cartoons and criticizes Turkey's opportunism

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) defended the position of French President Emmanuel Macron with respect to the controversy that has arisen in recent days in the Muslim world over his stance in defence of freedom of expression with respect to the dissemination of the cartoons of Mohammed.

In an interview published on Monday by the German newspaper Die Welt, Anwar Gargash, Emirates' Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, rejected the idea that Emmanuel Macron has sent a message of exclusion to Muslims. "You have to listen to what Macron really said in his speech: he does not want ghettoisation of Muslims in the West and he is absolutely right," he said.

Muslims must be more integrated, and the French state has the right to seek the means to achieve this while combating radicalisation and communal seclusion, the head of UAE diplomacy said.

The controversy arose as a result of Emmanuel Macron's fierce defence of freedom of expression, even defending the right to make caricatures, even of the Prophet Mohammed. From a broad spectrum of the Muslim world, Macron was attacked for this fierce defence, calling for absolute respect for the figure of the prophet. This dynamic unleashed a multitude of anti-French protests in many Muslim countries and an escalation of diplomatic tension that even led to verbal confrontation between political representatives of nations such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Turkey and the Gallic Republic itself. 

Emmanuel Macron made a full defence of freedom of expression after a high school teacher was killed in a Paris suburb by a Russian radical Islamist of Chechen origin, who ended his life after the teacher showed images of Muhammad during a class on freedom of expression with his students. 

The Emirates has now defended the position of French President Emmanuel Macron in the context of the controversy surrounding his position on the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt on Monday, Anwar Gargash totally rejected the idea that Macron had expressed a desire to exclude Muslims. "You must listen to what Macron actually said in his speech. He does not want to isolate Muslims in the West, and he is absolutely right," he explained. 

The Emirati minister added that Muslims should be better integrated and that the French state has the right to seek ways to achieve this in parallel with the fight against extremism, referring also to the law against Islamist separatism that the French government has been advocating during this time.  "It does not want Muslims in the West to be isolated, and it is absolutely right. They need to be better integrated into society. The French state has the right to look for ways to achieve this: to find a place for Muslims in French civil society and means to combat isolation and militancy," Anwar Gargash said.

The Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs criticised the opportunist stance of the Turkish president in this matter and said that when Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees "a gap or a weakness, he uses it to increase his influence"; he also pointed out that the Turkish president "does not show willingness to negotiate until we show him the red line". "Erdogan wants to become a leader of the Sunni Islam, so he is provoking this issue. But, in fact, this is a political project, not a religious one," said Gargash, who also added that the real objective of the Eurasian country's top leader is to expand his nation's influence in the Islamic world. Gargash stated that the balance of power in the Middle East is currently changing and that Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to take advantage of the current scenario. "Erdogan wants to exploit this situation to establish the Ottoman Empire once more. He is practising an imperialist policy similar to Iran, and this is one of the main dangers of the region", the Emirati diplomat said.

On the other hand, Anwar Gargash did admit to being offended as a Muslim by some of the cartoons, but made it clear that the policy is about something else. Anwar Gargash expressed his feelings as a Muslim about some of the offensive cartoons, but warned against using the issue politically in a way that harms the interests of Muslims.