Istanbul (AFP)

Turkey promised "diplomatic action" on Wednesday after the publication of a cartoon of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by the French weekly Charlie Hebdo, with France seeking European sanctions in the face of "attempts at destabilization".

In a context where France and Turkey, two NATO member countries, are at loggerheads, the famous French satirical weekly represented Mr. Erdogan in underwear, beer in hand, lifting the dress of a veiled woman in exclaiming: "Ouuuh! The prophet!".

A "vile attack" from "scoundrels", reacted the Turkish president to this unflattering drawing, claiming not to have seen it.

"We know that the target is not my person, but our values," continued the Turkish president, a spokesperson for whom had previously denounced "cultural racism".

Ankara opened an investigation for "insulting the head of state" and promised "diplomatic action" likely to further poison the reports, without however providing details.

Mr. Erdogan has stepped up in recent days the attacks against his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, accusing him of "Islamophobia" for having defended the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad during a tribute to a French teacher beheaded for showing drawings in class.

Response from Paris, through the voice of Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune: "We will obviously push in favor of strong European reaction measures, including the possible tool of sanctions" at the December European Council in the face of "a strategy of together, which is that of Turkey, to multiply all-out provocations ".

Previously, French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal denounced "attempts at destabilization and intimidation", praising the "great European unity" to support France and "its values" in favor of freedom of expression.

Finally, France has also taken legal action against a tweet from the Turkish Minister of Culture, Serdam Can, who described Charlie Hebdo in French as "bastards" and "sons of bitches".

In this showdown, Gabriel Attal confirmed the dissolution of the BarakaCity association, which Paris accuses of advocating "radical Islamism".

- "Hate speech" -

Relations between Turkey and France have gradually deteriorated since last year, due in particular to disagreements over Syria, Libya and the eastern Mediterranean.

But tensions were heightened last week when Mr Erdogan, accusing Mr Macron of waging a "campaign of hatred" against Islam, questioned his "mental state".

The Turkish head of state, who seeks to pose as a defender of Islam to polish his image, urged Monday to boycott French products, but his call seems to have been relatively little followed.

This latest outbreak also places a little more under the sign of tension in the Champions League match scheduled for Wednesday evening in Istanbul between Basaksehir, a club close to Mr. Erdogan, and Paris Saint-Germain.

Despite growing tensions, Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said on Wednesday that Ankara was not planning "for the moment" to recall its ambassador to Paris.

France returned on Saturday its representative in Turkey, whom Emmanuel Macron received on Tuesday evening.

In the midst of the war of words, the spokesperson for the French government made a point of "recalling very clearly that these are hateful remarks against journalists and against an editorial staff that have led to attacks, dramas, killings (... ) in our country".

Charlie Hebdo was the victim in 2015 of a deadly jihadist attack, after publishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

A Mauritanian jihadist on trial in Mali claimed responsibility for two attacks on Wednesday which bloodied Bamako in 2015, saying he was "proud" to have acted "out of revenge" against the cartoons.

- New events -

The duel between Ankara and Paris is part of a larger context of anger in the Muslim world towards France in connection with the defense of the caricatures of Muhammad, any representation of which is taboo in Islam.

Mr. Macron's support for these cartoons, in the name of secularism and freedom of expression, is seen by many Muslims as taking a hostile stance towards Islam.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote to leaders of Muslim countries on Wednesday asking them to act together against Islamophobia.

Several protests took place this week in predominantly Muslim countries, including a gathering of tens of thousands of people calling for a boycott of French brands on Tuesday in Bangladesh.

On Wednesday, around 300 people gathered again in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, hurling hostile slogans against France and burning an effigy of Mr. Macron.

Hundreds more protested in Mogadishu and other Somali cities.

A rally against the latest Charlie Hebdo cartoons in front of the French embassy in Ankara brought together around thirty people.

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© 2020 AFP