Denmark stands by France in new Prophet cartoon row

COPENHAGEN, Oct 29 — Denmark, where cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that triggered a global backlash among Muslims were first published in 2005, said Wednesday it stood in solidarity with France over a new surge in outrage.

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental value in a democracy,” Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod told TV2 television.

“Denmark stands in solidarity with France.”

Kofod complained of “questionable” behaviour by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who suggested French President Emmanuel Macron needed “mental checks” when he said the country would not stop producing cartoons following the beheading by a suspected Islamist of a teacher who had shown them in class.

Erdogan has also accused Macron of “Islamophobia.”

He stepped up his attacks yesterday after French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo — 12 of whose staff were killed in 2015 by Islamists over its republication of the original Danish cartoons — published a drawing mocking the Turkish leader on its front page.

Turkey promised unspecified “legal and diplomatic action” over the cartoon, which showed the 66-year-old leader drinking a can of beer in his underpants and looking up a Muslim woman's skirt.

Calls to boycott French goods have spread across the Muslim world and the row has triggered mass demonstrations in some countries.

Images of the Prophet Muhammad are forbidden under strict interpretations of Islam. — AFP