Turkish President Erdoğan Criticizes Calls to Remove Controversial Verses from the Quran: If They Had Read the Bible, They Would Probably Want It Banned Too

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked, in response to a manifesto published by prominent French personalities calling for the removal of antisemitic and anti-Christian sentiment from the Quran: "Have they ever read the Torah? Have they ever read the Book of Psalms? If they had, they would probably want the Bible to be banned too." Addressing the West, Erdoğan said: "Know that while you attack our holy book, we are not going to attack your sanctities, but we are going to take you down.” His statements, made on May 8, were posted online.

Following is a transcript:

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: The other day, in France, some group published a communiqué calling for the removal of certain verses from the Quran.

[Crowd boos]

Even though it is very clear that the people who said this do not know anything about the Quran… I wonder, have they ever in their lives read their own books? The Bible? Have they ever read the Torah? Have they ever read the Book of Psalms? If they had, they would probably want the Bible to be banned too. But they have never had such a problem. When we warn the Western countries about anti-Islamic sentiment, anti-Turkish sentiment, xenophobia, and racism, we get a bad reputation.

Oh West, know that while you attack our Holy Book, we are not going to attack your sanctities, but we are going to take you down. Know this too.

[Crowd applauds]

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