Paris (AFP)
Gérald Darmanin again accused the Strasbourg town hall on Wednesday of "financing foreign interference on French soil" with the adoption on Monday of a subsidy for the construction of a mosque supported by a pro-Turkish association.
Guest of RMC / BFMTV, the Minister of the Interior objected to statements by the EELV mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian, assuring that Mr. Darmanin had not warned her of his reluctance towards the Millî Görüs federation.
"I had the opportunity to tell the mayor of Strasbourg (...) that we did not find it at least friendly with French interests", he assured, explaining that "this federation is pro Turkish did not want to sign the charter of values of the Republic ".
"We consider that this association is no longer capable of being in the world representative of Islam in France," continued Mr. Darmanin.
These statements by Mr. Darmanin come after President Emmanuel Macron warned Tuesday on France 5 against attempts to interfere by Turkey in the next presidential election.
The minister affirmed that there were "particularly in Strasbourg (...) extremely strong interference attempts in our country, in particular on the part of Turkey".
"We have a certain number of clues showing that the Turkish government wishes to interfere in French and especially religious histories," he said.
"We consider that this community (the town hall of Strasbourg) should not have financed a foreign interference on our soil", hammered the minister.
The minister argued that Millî Görüs had, according to his "information", "looked for money elsewhere, in particular in Qatar".
For him, with this federation, "he has a nationalist interference".
"We consider, we, that we can no longer deal with these associations which are against the values" of the Republic, he insisted, stressing that other federations of the CFCM had also refused to sign the charter of the Republic .
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