Yes, the Vernon Mosque has received Islamophobic threat letters

The letter reproduced on social networks is authentic -

• A photograph widely shared on social networks suggests that a mosque in Vernon was the target of Islamophobic threat letters in October. 

• If some believed in a forgery, the Association of Turkish workers of Vernon (Eure) received two letters,

  on October

  17 and

  18

  .

  An investigation is underway. 

• In a context of tensions between France and Turkey over the right to blasphemy after the murder of Samuel Paty, two other sites managed by the Turkish community, in Compiègne and Dunkirk, were victims of Islamophobic acts.

"It's war, we are going to root you out of our country.

A photograph widely shared on social networks for several days reports a letter of threats of an Islamophobic and Turkophobic nature received by the mosque of Vernon.

The mail comes from a person or a group of people posing as the “Republican Commandos against the Turkish, Muslim and Salafist bastards”.

The Islamophobic letter received twice by the Ditib of Vernon.

- Facebook

In a Facebook post shared more than 740 times, we find the threatening letter annotated with a comment: “Worshipers at the Vernon Mosque discovered this message in the mailbox.

"Threats which are part of a context of tensions between France and Turkey around the right to blasphemy, a few days after the words of Emmanuel Macron during the national tribute to Samuel Paty and the call to boycott Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

FAKE OFF

Several Internet users suspected the mail to be a fake.

The threat letter was however received twice by the Association of Turkish Workers of Vernon, a structure affiliated to the Turkish-Islamic Union of Religious Affairs of France (Ditib France).

In the commune of Eure, it manages a mosque and a cultural complex.

Joined by

, Saït Karaagac, the president of the association, does not hide his indignation.

On October 17, he received, by post, a letter of Islamophobic threats in which "Republican Commandos" declared themselves at war "against the bastards Turks, Muslims and Salafists".

The sender promises that the association "will pay for the death of Samuel [Paty]", the teacher savagely beheaded in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on October 16, and even threatens to "blow the face" of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Saït Karaagac immediately went to the police station, where he filed a complaint.

But the story does not end there.

Ten days later, on October 27, the president of the association discovers a new letter, identical "except for a few words", in the letterbox of the cultural and worship complex.

He complains again.

“It's very worrying.

We have been established in Vernon since 1992 and never have we received anything so violent ", explains Saït Karagaac, who prefers to believe that it is" the work of a madman who has no doubt nothing of other to do ”.

Contacted by

a police source confirms the filing of these complaints, and ensures that an investigation is underway.

Two other similar attacks

Monday, November 2, Ditib France condemns these Islamophobic acts in a press release and advocates "living together".

Because in the meantime, two other associations affiliated with the Ditib have been targeted by Islamophobic acts, in Compiègne and Dunkirk.

Are they, too, the target of these “republican commandos”?

Two investigations opened by local police stations, according to information from

, will have to determine it.

"This Monday, the workers found two decapitated wild boar heads on the ground, in the middle of the site", reports Youssef Tuzcu, president of the Ditib de Compiègne, to 20 Minutes.

In the industrial area of ​​the city, the association is having a new site built to better accommodate its growing community.

This time, no letter, no claim of "republican commandos", but a gesture with clearly Islamophobic symbolism.

“It's incomprehensible, we had already had a few remarks from the neighborhood, but never anything so violent.

We have always been well integrated, ”he explains.

Youssef Tuzcu filed a complaint the same day at the police station.

In Dunkirk, last Friday, members of the Turkish association discovered a series of Islamophobic tags, reports to

Ahmet Kula, the leader of the local branch.

Several inscriptions were drawn with a black marker on the entrance door of the complex, as well as on street furniture around.

The front door of the Ditib cultural complex in Dunkirk, tagged with Islamophobic insults.

- Ahmet Kula

Members of the association took photos of the damage and Ahmet Kula, who returned from vacation, lodged a complaint upon his return the following Sunday.

Like his counterparts in Vernon and Compiègne, Ahmet Kula relies on justice, but says he is saddened by such relentlessness: “We have always advocated benevolence, the neighborhood is witness to it.

During the last confinement, we distributed Turkish specialties to the most disadvantaged, and that's how we are thanked… ”

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