ANKARA
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu phoned his French counterpart Laurent Fabius on Wednesday to his offer condolences over the deadly attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in central Paris which claimed 12 lives.
According to diplomatic sources, Cavusoglu said, "We were shocked like the rest of the world, our sincere condolences."
Fabius answered, "You can understand us very well as you have suffered from terrorism a lot."
Thousands of French citizens gathered at Place de La Republique, holding up pens and press cards in a symbolic act to defend "freedom of press" following Wednesday's deadly attack.
Around 5,000 people gathered in central Paris responding to calls from the France Journalists Syndicate and press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders.
A number of other rallies are reportedly being organized in cities across France such as Angers, Bourdeaux, Lyon and Strasbourg.
