France is the most Muslim country in Europe. Macron, meanwhile, says he wants to form "his own counter-society" within the nearly 6 million Muslim countries. About a month ago, on October 2, he delivered an hour-long speech on the subject and announced in December that he would submit a new bill to parliament to prevent "Islamic separatism" in French society.
The president is proposing changes to the 1905 law separating religion from the state. If the law is passed, local leaders will be given new powers in the fight against extremism, control over the financing of mosques will be strengthened, and working as an imam will require training and certification in France itself (currently half of imams in France are Turks).
In addition to the above, Emmanuel Macron proposed to allocate funds for the teaching of Islamic culture and the Arabic language in the country, to take additional measures to reduce homelessness and poverty, which lead to other social problems. These and other measures, according to the President, will create an environment of "enlightened Islam" in France and protect this environment from "external influences."
"Islam is in a state of crisis around the world," he said in the most controversial part of his speech. According to The Guardian, Macron was referring to areas such as ISIS jihadists, Wahhabism and Salafism. “We do not believe in political Islam that is incompatible with stability and peace in the world,” he said. At the same time, the French leader said extremists were misleading Muslims and urged them not to fall into their trap.
Macron's statement did not resonate as much as it did at the time. On October 6, Erdogan called his French counterpart's remarks "colonial" and "disrespectful, openly provocative." "Who are you to talk about the fundamentals of Islam?" he said, advising Macron to be "careful when he says something he doesn't understand," which didn't make much of a fuss.
The main event that angered Muslims was the re-emergence of the subject of cartoons.
