Turkish opposition leader slams French move on Quran

By Sibel Ugurlu

ANKARA

Turkey's main opposition party leader on Tuesday called the French proposal to omit some Quranic verses an approach akin to Al-Qaida, Al-Nusra and Daesh.

Addressing a parliamentary group meeting of his Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu blasted hundreds of French authors and politicians who signed a manifesto making the proposal.

"A group of prominent figures including former politicians say: 'Some verses needs to be removed from the Quran, because they are out of date.' It is you who are out of date, not the Quran," Kilicdaroglu said.

"This attitude exhibited by you is akin to Al-Qaida, Al-Nusra or Daesh. You are supporting them. We respect all holy books. The last book is the Quran. If you want to support Daesh and Al-Qaida which are using religion for terrorist actions, go on."

Kilicdaroglu added that Islam is a religion of peace and accepted worldwide.

"There is no fight, hatred and rage in Islam, but there is worthiness and peace... It is obvious that those who made this declaration do not know what Islam is," he said, recommending the French authors and politicians to read Prophet Muhammad's final sermon which "is considered the first human rights declaration".

On April 21, 300 prominent French figures, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, signed an open manifesto demanding that some parts of the Quran, which they claimed contain violence and anti-Semitic references, be removed.