Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun drew attention to the racist, Islamophobic rhetoric and actions of France today that are against President Erdoğan by sharing an adapted version to the present day of the letter titled “I accuse!” written by the French author Emile Zola 122 years ago to the French President of the time, which put forward the double standard in France’s discourse of “freedom, equality and fraternity”.
In a post on his Twitter account, Director of Communications Altun shared the message: "Emile Zola calls out to the French people 122 years later with the same message: I accuse”, together with visuals showing the copy of Zola’s letter in the L'Aurore newspaper and the adapted version of the letter to the present day.
Accordingly, the letter adapted to the present day that begins with the words “I accuse!” reads as follows:
“Dear people of France, the letter bearing this title was sent 122 years ago to the French President of the time regarding the Dreyfus affair. I, myself, am sending you this letter today. At that time, I criticized the corruption, degeneration and anti-Semitism in the French society to defend the truth with all the consequences. Weren’t we the ones who cried out for freedom, equality and fraternity as loud as we could after the French Revolution? Weren’t we the ones who fought for these values? It is we who made these values the foundations of our Constitution of 1848 and engraved them on buildings, stones and monuments. The next generations wrote freedom, equality and fraternity in the Constitution. These three founding values have become the common heritage of the French people.
Even today, in 2020, I note with regret that our leaders and our media are gradually losing their foresight. The last remaining solution is to address the conscience of people from whom countless writers and intrepid defenders of truth have come.Where have freedom, equality and fraternity gone! French politicians and other personalities who call themselves artists systematically use offensive expressions against Islam and Muslims. They spit out their hatred and systematize this fact, they trample on fraternity, the founding value of the French nation. This is a situation that we never thought we would see in our relationships that dates back to centuries, and a situation that should not occur. We would like to know that there are conscientious people in France who do not share this irresponsibility which is becoming an irreversible case. It is only today that we begin to heal the wounds caused by French colonialism around the world. We still owe Algeria, Africa an apology. The social memory of the suffering experienced is not a simple wound that can be healed with superficial and careless excuses.”
“It’s not Macron or Charlie Hebdo who will teach us about Islam”
The letter continued to mention: “It must be recognized today that insult and blasphemy under the guise of freedom of expression is not a credible method”, and noted that “the rhetoric of hatred and racism that once existed against Jews is repeated today against Muslims”.
The letter included the following statements:
“The mistakes of the past should not be repeated. This is not the way history should repeat itself. France must cry out loudly and clearly that it is not complicit in this slur put on it and that it does not support the hate speech and resentment of its leaders. It’s not Macron or Charlie Hebdo who will teach us about Islam. There are so many figures in French history who can properly teach us about Islam and there will surely be more in the future.”
In the letter which expressed “Sadly we have had an unlucky day again in the name of freedom, equality and brotherhood. Charlie Hebdo, knowing no bounds in its outrages against human dignity and values, is a great destructive threat to the future of entrenched French thought”, it was recalled that this magazine published a humiliating and abject caricature and language against the elected President of Turkey.
In the letter which stated that the unifying character of humour should not be sacrificed in the name of political agendas and the humour should not be used as a weapon, the following was noted:
“We have condemned and blamed this heinous behaviour from the very beginning. We accuse it before history, we accuse it before humanity, we accuse it before conscience. And we would also like to recall that this irresponsible act, which will serve no other purpose than to stir up more hatred, is a great threat to world peace. The French leaders who respond to all benevolent warnings with greater insults as well as anyone, who approvethis explicitly or implicitly by avoiding to say stop to this aggressive hate speech, are responsible for the serious picture that presents itself.
If France does not want to be tainted today as in the past, it must show the courage that I demonstrated 122 years ago and prevent this swamp which produces hatred and racism from emitting more bad smells.”
Emphasizing that “the freedom of press cannot be the tool of contempt for beliefs”, it said:
“You have to take action before this wave of hatred that once targeted Jews and now targets Muslims destroys the values that France claims to possess. We all know well what is the ultimate target of the attacks against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The ultimate target is Islam. The responsibility to resist this abject hate speech is so precious that it cannot be left to politicians in France blinded by their ambitions. This responsibility must rise on the shoulders of all French people who will not trample on human dignity, who will not classify people according to their beliefs and who will not drive any discrimination. I accuse all those who remain silent on this historic day and who mediate the spread of hatred, of being the abettor in this crime.”