Turkish president accuses 'the West' of being behind Charlie Hebdo attacks and deliberately 'blaming Muslims' as conspiracy theories sweep the Internet accusing Israel of orchestrating it
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggested French security forces knew of attack
- Turkish President said the West is 'playing games with the Islamic world'
- Said: 'French citizens carried out massacre, and Muslims pay the price'
The President of Turkey has suggested French security forces are to blame for the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week, since the culprits had recently served prison sentences.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the West of 'playing games with the Islamic world', warning fellow Muslims to be 'aware'.
Erdogan said Muslims are 'paying the price' for the attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish kosher supermarket in Paris last week.
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Blame game: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested French security forces were behind the Paris attacks as they 'track' former prisoners and the culprits in the Charlie Hebdo shootings had served time
'French citizens carry out such a massacre, and Muslims pay the price,' Erdogan said yesterday.
'That's very meaningful ... Doesn't their intelligence organisation track those who leave prison?
'Games are being played with the Islamic world, we need to be aware of this.
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'The West's hypocrisy is obvious. As Muslims, we've never taken part in terrorist massacres. Behind these lie racism, hatespeech and Islamophobia,' Erdogan added.
Erdogan also denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attending a solidarity rally in France on Sunday with other world leaders after the Paris attacks.
'How can a man who has killed 2,500 people in Gaza with state terrorism wave his hand in Paris, like people are waiting in excitement for him to do so? How dare he go there?' he said.
Erdogan denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his attendance at the Unity rally in Paris alongside, from left to right, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU President Donald Tusk and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas
Erdogan made the comments at a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ankara on Monday
Erdogan did not attend the Sunday march, though Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu participated.
Erdogan is not the only senior Turkish politicianpublicly voicing conspiracy theories over the Paris attacks.
The Mayor of Ankara, Melih Gokcek, said he was convinced the Israeli intelligence service Mossad was behind the attacks, linking them to France's recent move towards recognising Palestine as an independent state.
'Mossad is definitely behind such incidents… it is boosting enmity towards Islam.' Mr Gokcek said, according to Financial Times.
In Russia, several pro-Kremlin commentators blamed the United States and the CIA for the attack, the newspaper reported.
One, Alexei Martynov, director of the International Institute for New States, said 'I am sure that some American supervisors are responsible for the terror attacks in Paris, or in any case the Islamists who carried them out.'
IMAM WHO RADICALISED CHARLIE HEBDO KILLER CONDEMNS MURDERS
The former Imam and recruiter of jihadists, and the man who helped radicalise the Kouachi brothers has come forward to condemn the Charlie Hebdo murders.
Farid Benyettou, revealed as working as an intern in the hospital where many of the dead and dying were taken said: 'It was a cowardly assassination and monstrous.'
Farid Benyettou has condemned the Charlie Hebdo murders, despite radicalising one of the brothers involved in the shootings
His face hidden, the 32 year old told i-Tele: 'Whatever was done, whether it be the cowardly and monstrous murder of the journalists, or of the police and members of the Jewish community – it should not be attributed to Islam.
'If you are murderers then that's your business.'
Benyettou, who has since been removed from the wards of Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital to finish his studies in training school, said he had come forward in the name of Islam.
He said: 'I am not here to proclaim my innocence but to condemn what has been done. My innocence is not in doubt.
'Some people will say if I don't that 'Farid Beyettou may agree with what has been done' and some people may identify with that.
'No. Farid Benyettou absolutely does not agree with what happened.'
Benyettou said that he had mentored Cherif Kouachi, the younger of the terrorist brothers, for around two months.
He said: 'He came unexpectedly. He wanted discussion. With him it was always the same topic….
'It all turned around combat. He was fascinated by that – his knowledge of the religion was limited to that. Having a good relationship with his neighbours, the behaviour of Muslims in every day life, he had no idea about.
'And the relationship with God did not interest him. He was someone very, very stubborn. I told him I could not agree with what he was saying about violence and that it was probably the worst crime a Muslim could commit.
'He seemed to change his stance, accept criticism. Nothing could have seen what was to come.'
Then in a passionate defence of France he said: 'Some think that France oppresses Muslims. I am proof to the contrary. Yes I have a criminal record – terrorist written on it.
'I think this is the worst thing to happen yet despite this, doors have been open for me.
'I was given help, never been discriminated against. On the contrary.'
Benyettou was radicalised after the arrest of his brother, Youssef Zemmouri in 1998 when security forces dismantled the Parisian Salafist Group.
Self taught he became an 'emir' and taught theology courses.
He was arrested along with six others in 2005 for helping to send jihadists to Iraq after the US invasion.
Three years later, then aged 27, he was sentenced to six years in prison and release in 2011.
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