TURKEY PRIME MINISTER LIKENS NETANYAHU TO PARIS GUNMEN

Ankara, 25 Rabiul Awwal 1436/16 January 2015 (MINA) – Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has likened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the gunmen in the recent attacks in the French capital of Paris, which left 17 people dead.

“Netanyahu has committed crimes against humanity the same like those terrorists who carried out the Paris massacre,” Davutoglu  said on Thursday in a televised briefing in Ankara, citing the deadly 2010 Israeli assault on a Turkish aid vessel and the 2014 war on Gaza, Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, killing nine Turkish citizens on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people, who were part of a team on the six-ship convoy seeking to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.

Israel started a war against the Gaza Strip in early July 2014. The war ended in late August that year and killed over 2,140 Palestinians, including 577 children. Over 11,100 others, including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people, were also injured.

Davutoglu criticized French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s recent publication of a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by saying, “Freedom of the press does not mean freedom to insult,” describing the act as “grave provocation.”

A spate of violent incidents, including an attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, left at least 17 people dead in the French capital last week.

On Wednesday, three million copies of the new edition of the satirical magazine hit newsstands, depicting a cartoon of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on the cover of its new edition, amid warnings that the move is provocative. (T/P010/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)