LIKE OTHER MUSLIM COUNTRIES, TURKEY ALSO VOWS TO THWART ‘MUHAMMED INSULT’

ANKARA – Turkey on Thursday condemned the publication of cartoons of the Muslim prophet as an “open provocation,” warning that it would not tolerate insults of Mohammed in the controversy over the post-attacks Charlie Hebdo issue.

“Freedom of the press does not mean freedom to insult,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara before heading for talks with EU leaders in Brussels.

His comments came day after leading Turkish daily Cumhuriyet and Turkish websites published cartoons featuring the prophet from the first issue of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after the attack on its offices on January 7 that left 12 people dead.

The publications revived a controversy over freedom of speech in officially secular Turkey which has been run for over a decade by an Islamic-leaning government and pious Muslim Recep Tayyip Erdogan, first as premier and now president.

“We do not allow any insult to the prophet in this country,” Davutoglu said.

“As the government, we cannot put side by side the freedom of press and the lowness to insult.”

Davutoglu said people were sensitive about their religion in the overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey.

They could not be expected to show patience towards insults to the prophet.

“If some print cartoons that insult the prophet and this is the situation and there is a sensitivity in Turkey. It is a provocation… it is an open provocation, ”Erdogan said.

Source: AFP...More...(http://cdn.breitbart.com)