Ömer Dağ, Turkish Refugee In France: The So-Called 'Crusaders' Treated My Family With Utmost Respect; 'They Are Thousands Of Miles Ahead of Us In Terms Of Moral Values'

Ömer Dağ, a Turkish refugee in France spoke about his welcome by French authorities on Ten TV (Egypt), in an interview that aired on December 28, 2020. He detailed how his family was treated with "the utmost graciousness and humanity" by French authorities even though France is considered a "Crusader" country by Muslims. Dağ shared with Ten TV that he and his wife, who wears a hijab, were treated with respect and that the French authorities made sure his son would receive school food that was permitted according to Islam. He said that the French do not discriminate against Muslims and that "they are thousands of miles ahead of us in terms of moral values." Ömer Dağ was the director of programming at a Turkish TV station, and he fled the country after he was accused of ties to the Gülen movement.

Ömer Dağ: "When we first arrived [in France], we went to submit an asylum request at a kind of government office. There was a department for refugees there. My wife and my two daughters were sitting in their hijab in front of the Christians there, the so-called 'Crusaders.' Sir, they treated us with such respect... I was amazed. I put myself in their place. If I were in my country, and a Christian, a so-called 'Crusader,' came to me – how would I have treated him? The respect that I witnessed... To this very day... They gave us a place to live, and we have a card that is charged up with money each month, right on time. I mean it is really unbelievable.

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"There was no discrimination. For example, my wife wears a hijab. They do not look at us the way we look [at them]. They view us as human beings. What you wear or what you think doesn't matter to them. That official was doing his job. He was there to help me.

"We went to enroll our children at school. I have a little boy and he has to eat at school. The official asked me bashfully: 'Do you. As Muslims, require a special kind of food? On such and such a day there is no problem, but on another day, we serve pork...' She warned us, and she herself felt uncomfortable. I am the one who should have felt uncomfortable, since it was me who was dictating my [Islamic diet] rules, but she felt uncomfortable. She warned us that on a certain day there was such and such food.

"What we encountered in this country of the so-called 'Crusaders' is the utmost graciousness and humanity. We encountered exceptional respect. To this day, we are living in a government-owned home. The state gave us a house. Downstairs there is an organization that manages the affairs of the people living in that building. The respect they have shown us is outstanding. It's unbelievable."

Interviewer: "So you were banished from the so-called 'Land of the Caliphate' to the so-called 'Land of the Crusaders,' and you found here [in France] what was supposed to be there [in Turkey]?"

Dağ: "I cannot find the words, but to be honest, they are thousands of miles ahead of us in terms of moral values. They are ahead of us in terms of moral values. It is true that they have other problems, but when it comes to humane treatment, they are way ahead of us. Way ahead."