The muslim world what can you say to the muslim world today to school with the one whos emotionally messy that whatever is on her plate well 1st of all thank you for coming and you are right that our country has been struck 3 times by terrorist attacks carried out by extremists and violent extremists who in distorting and deforming islam have committed acts which have deeply shocked and wounded the people of france to the quick this act. The decapitation of a teacher because he was teaching freely and then in nice this 1st day in a church the basilica of our lady the decapitation of 2 people and the stabbing of a 3rd. France is still reeling from the shock of these 2 terrorist attacks and is at one and the same time feeling sadness unity and anger and for the 1st time when we experienced these events there were very Strong International relations amounting to attacks on fronts and a lot of misunderstanding us what which is why i want to dispel them things i saw on your social networks and on your channel so i thought this way i could dispel a lot of these misunderstandings if you will allow me though my 1st words will be addressed to the french whose faith is essentially catholic because theyve been very deeply wounded and i would like to convey to them all the support and protection of the republic just a few minutes ago i was in touch with the pope in order to convey that to him to then in a broader sense i would like to say that france is a country that is committed to freedom of worship and what is often called secularism is. A complex term which has given rise to many misunderstandings which i hope that i can attempt to dispel today there is it should be recalled freedom to believe or not to believe which makes a france a country in which we would like each and everyone to be a citizen irrespective of his or her religion. Where everyone irrespective of their religion has the same political and civic rights and a society in which people of all faiths can live and where these faiths can be practiced this is very important with transcendence as a place in our societies but the state must guarantee that right to everyone i want to say that contrie to what ive heard a great deal join the last couple of days our country is one which has no problem with any religion in the world because they can all be practiced here freely and as far as french muslims are concerned and indeed all muslim citizens throughout the world i want to say to them that france is a country where this religion is practiced freely and where there is no stigmatization. Everything that ive heard is quite wrong france is a country whose universal vocation is to be committed to people being able to live together irrespective of their religion. Many untrue things have been said and what i want to do here is to send out a message of resolve against all of violent extremists and at the same time convey a message of peace and unity and setting the record straight the filter value habit that is my Main Objective for this conversation with you today. More soul varying in mind that the muslims are the 1st to suffer violence they always paid a price with regard to the cartoons which have been published in france on more than 1. 00 occasion. That depicts the prophets of islam and muslims on each occasion muslims have been wounded shocked and at times misunderstood shockey. That to what extent can the feelings of muslims be taken into consideration. At all. Well you are coming back to that again and this immediately brings us to one of the misunderstandings that have surfaced in recent weeks a misunderstanding or origin of much manipulation that is if you allow me sometimes very seriously. Then with the issue of the caricature it is not a new subject let me remind you that for more than 15 years now there been terrible poll makes with denmark as well and with the support of france at the time and today its with france itself. On our country has its own history and this history consists of having built a public identity through in some senses withdrawing it from religion. This is what is often term secularism because 1st and foremost france has experienced a history with the catholic religion and weve elaborated our laws which of fruit of the spirit of the enlightenment our laws of the emanation of the french people a sovereign people and our laws in shrine the rights and freedoms of each and every one the freedom of worship which ive referred to a freedom that we defend and which is practiced in our country but also the freedom of conscience and free speech on this means that in our country france any journalist may freely express themselves about the president of their public the government the political majority or minority or the rest of the world and that idea of free speech also contains the freedom the possibility of drawing caricature was that is our right and it comes from way back in the end of the 19th century it is important to defend it because it belongs to the french people and we are in our own sovereign country this right has led to there being newspaper caricature wars which we have a history of and these cartoons of mock political leaders your humble servant being the 1st in line which is perfectly normal as well as religion all religions and so when we talk about caricature wars i want to know that many newspapers including Charlie Hebdo because theres been a lot of talk about that one of mainly caricature of the christian god the jewish religion rabbis excedrin and today and for some years now weve seen cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad or of the muslim religion i understand the feelings that this gives rise to i respect them but i need to understand what my role is my role is to calm things down which is what im doing here but it is also to protect these rights and there is an important difference here which all muslims who might have been shocked have to understand. This is not about whether franzen is representative in the figure of the president draws these cartoons or supports them as such that is not the issue because the press is free there are not official newspapers the french government did not draw these caricature wars the issue is about knowing whether the president agrees to prohibit these rights the answer is no because it is a right of the french people and it affects everybody so what is important for me is to protect that freedom i also want everything to be done with each and every person being respected but this freedom is very important to me so much of what has been said during these last weeks about caricature was we can condemn them and that is right as well as many other things that are done and also in other countries which are committed to free speech i find it perfectly normal the people react and say that they dont agree but there are 2 Different Things there that i cannot accept the 1st is the confusion which has been maintained by much of the media and sometimes also by political and religious leaders which consists in saying that these caricature laws are in some sense the project or the emanation of the french government or the president of the republican nominee you know im here to preserve this right of national always do so and there are people who exercise it thats how it is. And the 2nd thing that i cant condone is peoples justification either directly or indirectly of any form of violence will give im not a specialist in the ology but it is not my understanding that islam legitimize it or supports resorting to violence of any kind or. So i understand and respect the fact that people might be shocked by these caricature was i will never accept the visible violence is justified because of them. And i will always defend freedom of speech in my country the freedom to write to think and to draw this does not mean however that i personally support everything which is said with thought or drawn it simply means that these freedoms these human rights which have been created in france i believe that is our duty to protect them and thus to protect the sovereignty of the people of friendlies when the book of. Please almost cost me the president i am conveying to you questions which are occasionally asked in the arab and muslim world and which are based on statements made by yourself in this speech you made in homage to the teacher mr summers he was assassinated you said and i quote we will not give up the right to make your get yours or during. Even it with others may back down or resolve is clearly based on feeling the speech it was of the cuff and its seen by some people as being defiant rather than taking the feelings of muslims into consideration how do we assess this. Ill read it well ive just explained it 1st of all there have been a number of misunderstandings about the sentence you have just quoted and thank you for having quoted it literally the translations which have been made by a lot of the media in the arab world in which i have seen on social networks contain a lie a lie i was understood to have said that i support the humiliating caricature was made of the prophet i never said any such thing firstly because these same caricature was and this is important for all muslims who are listening to us are about all religions all of them. There are no caricature wars that are specifically against one religion rather than another one and in addition to this all the it is or implied the 2nd thing i said is that i was protecting their right because that is my role and i also believe that in our society we must accept and accomplish respect for one another but as president of the republic it is not up to me to water down that right because some people might be shocked if that is what i want you to understand because if i were to do so i would be setting up a sort of moral or religious order in my own country if i were to say to the people of writing or drawing that they dont have the right to say things like that because it shocks other people then little by little freedom of speech would be reduced because it would become a space in which we would not actually speak about one another. Herein lies the whole difficulty of this project which is collectively ours and i believe that it derives from the project of the enlightenment and the values which we hold dear it is not just a question of coexisting signed by side it is also a question of accepting that we can pass comment on one another calmly and with a kind of respect that i believe in and occasionally be able to mock one another irrespective of what our religion or philosophy might be and to accept that it be done within a framework that implies both respect and peace in terms of the sentence you quoted i think that the reaction of the muslim world was 1st and foremost a jew to numerous lies to the distortions are referred to and to the fact that people were led to believe that im in favor of these caricature was to these people i say that this is not the issue im in favor of people being able to write think and draw freely in my country because i think that it is important and that is their right and freedom and i understand that it can hurt and i respect that but we need to talk about it we need to talk about it we have to build a space of respect and mutual comprehension so i believe that the solution lies not in preventing this right and even less so in trying to justify violence of any sort as a result of being shocked. As to your son this is obviously something that is in all the headlines muslims any kind of characters. The they of moses jesus the virgin mary but they point out that its all too easy to publish or republish the drawings and current turns of mohammed a visit or of the prophet. Or repartition which implies that it is easier to caricature the prophet of islam than to caricature the others it is not of when it is the 1st of all in factual terms that is incorrect and it is historically incorrect to the catholics in france have sometimes been very shocked by what theyve seen and i know that jews have been too and so this is something that we have to discuss you know when it affects you personally we are not talking about caricature wars of religion but people can you may not like it but disliking something or being shocked by it does not justify violence i do not accept the idea that there is a kind of stigmatization no that is not right out also like to stress the fact that free speech is something much broader than mere cartoons but theyre part of it. But i think that it would be a mistake to fall into a kind of Chain Reaction of provocation i wanted to set the record straight for you 1st of all there is history. These drawings were done in france and france is not under islamic law france is under the law of the sovereign french people it is the law they decide on and more specifically these laws come down to us from the 19th century who are my to say that because a particular religion has an issue with such and such a representation or word i should ban it i cant do that and i do not think that it is my duty to do so and so what i want and this is my message is that together i want to remove the false suds and the ambiguities and i want to say to all the muslims of the world that in your countries there are things that certain religions do not necessarily like perhaps including some french nationals but do they attack you because they dont like it because they are shocked that no we have to learn how to get to know one another and understand where our laws and customs come from but there is nothing in these caricature laws in this freedom of speech which is done against a particular religion whichever it is and specifically not against islam that is very important for our country whereas in many countries throughout the world and this is something that i note with sadness freedom of speech has declined over the decades why because they have been arguments fear and the chaos created by reaction. So what we see is a kind of shrinking of this freedom to draw to discuss sometimes to provoke and i believe that this is grievous for the freedom of everyone. So you must believe that i your humble servant for as long as im president of the French Republic will respect all the citizens of france as well as all the citizens of the world irrespective of what their religion is im committed to that respect but i want you to understand what the exercise of this freedom is in france and in other countries another mark of my respect is to treat muslims like people of all other religions im trying to establish the kind of respect that can accept human differences while it is true that at times some things can shock people one does not mean that one should prohibit or reduce them we should be able to talk about. Often when people talk about islam in france muslim site and to some it isnt they say why are they laws which penalize and to some it is and while the debates which close of certain historical facts revisionism is for example which ring fence by french law we yes i can confirm. Is it not possible to have a law and that would protect their holy symbols. Allo you confusing 2 things here history the Mutual Respect of different peoples and religion france is fighting antisemitism and racism in all their force and antisemitism as such is an attack and a hatred against a people in fact against all peoples and to semitism and racism in france are fought against and predicted by law but is not just a case of anti semitism other that would be wrong it is forms of racism but in the same way as we are saying just now in france one has the right to do caricature laws and to criticize the jewish religion like all religions so there is no double standard or double statute it would be wrong to say done wrong there is indeed a law in france which penalizes historical revisionism because many people build their anti semitism on a denial of the shoah that is a fact but in france we do not question historical fact we do not go searching in other countries for a denial of such and such a genocide or teach a not in front that we recognize things as they are including moreover the crimes we ourselves have committed let me remind you that 25 years ago Jacques Chirac acknowledged the responsibility of the french stage during world war 2 and weve even acknowledged or was done in the name of slavery and colonialization so france looks at its true history in the face but we understand that others look at it too and we try to avoid hatred being fed through a revised and falsely corrected history you have to remember that it is not the government the right history that is the job of historians or forms of racism and anti semitism or 4th against in france by law which of course does not mean that they do not exist they do and they are a terrible scourge and we struggle with them i have asked the government to do even more right from the beginning of my term of office as indeed was the case with my predecessors whatever their political persuasion i have fought against it mainly because a lot of violent acts have been committed against the jews in france during recent years but they have also been acts carried out in the name of racism which are unacceptable we fight against all of them and all of these acts in the same way. There is as i said the possibility of criticizing religions and people carry out acts against certain religions with regard to this and i hope that im making myself Crystal Clear here i want us to be intractable however these days in france there are people who commit acts against muslims because theyre muslims against catholics because theyre catholics against protestants because theyre protestants against jews because theyre jews and so on and so i instructed the minister of the interior to entrust the parliamentarian with responsibility of identifying the following through and building transparency with regard to all acts committed on religious grounds against our fellow citizens on french territory. Of highly critical. In the wake of the criticism that france has undergone over the last weeks there ensued could a campaign what is your reaction to get out of them as it were only 10 years ago and then it is outrageous and i condemn it it is being done by certain private groups because they havent understood it because they relied on false and caricature was sometimes from other leaders on it is unacceptable you have to understand what is happening on the issue of the cartoons because in front of us which is a sovereign country of i decide that the right it is the law endorsed by the sovereign people what should we apply to and that i should then try to calm things down but i say that im not going to ruin a gormless right because that would be unconstitutional and it would represent a terrible loss of sovereignty for us because people confuse my position which i consider to be unassailable so they start attacking a state that as i said to many of the leaders in france the press is free in many of the countries calling for a boycott there is no longer any free press which means that there is no longer any possibility of drawing caricatural of not only of the Prophet Muhammad or god or moses or jesus or anyone but even of the leaders of their own countries on cartoons of foreign leaders or sometimes drawn but not the ones of the leaders of the country they live in public because they have crushed the hands of the cartoonists because sometimes they have killed the journalists or because they put them behind bars this is not the case in front of israel and so when a newspaper in france says something it is not the position of the government to decide on a boycott of a country of a people because something has been written in a newspaper in our country is insane or it is just a case of transposing what happens in certain other countries but not here or in the free world because the words of a journalist are not the mouthpiece of propaganda we dont have any more of that in front of us im pleased to say in approaching women do you fear that there will be repercussions on french people approach on French Companies abroad and your boss could put additional i think were all. Tical and religious leaders who do not categorically and roundly condemned any form of violence against france which is a country freedom and enlightenment should bear a certain responsibility in direct or sometimes in direct with regard to violence committed against french people in france or abroad and that is why the message of appeasement of that i wanted to convey today is also a message calling for responsibility during these last days ive seen too many people saying unacceptable things about fronts corroborating all the lies which have been said about us or what i am supposed to have said being the tacit accomplices of the worst you know i want you to understand what were trying to do in france for some years now weve been fiercely combating terrorism it has cost the lives of more than 300 of our fellow citizens in it and sometimes of foreigners living here this terrorism carried out in the name of islam is a scourge for the muslims of the entire world he was saying the same thing yourself just now you know when you look at the or far to figures on the subject as of today if you take the last 40 years more than 80 percent of the victims of this terrorism are muslims when young girls are abducted in nigeria by groups in the name of islam they and their families are the victims when a Maternity Hospital is bombed when i could quote you dozens of examples where terrorism in the name of islam claims are mainly the lives of muslims we are fighting this terrorism because it strikes us here on our own soil and then there is a 2nd category that ive decided to combat they have been many misunderstandings about this because they have been problems of translation its what we call in france radical islam ism what does this mean. These are violent extremists who distort religion and who committed violence in the name of islam and this fight that ive been waging has been translated as my fight against islam but no on the contrary france is a country where the religion of several 1000000 of our fellow citizens is islamic we are not going to fight them theyre fully fledged citizens and they want to live in peace and we have friendly countries everywhere whose main religion isnt but today in the name of islam and thus distorting it violent extremists are carrying out the worst acts and theyre not terrorists what are they up to then they take children out of school a minute doc generate them and they justify violence theyre active on our territory in france and linked with groups abroad and so what weve been very forcibly grappling with for the last 3 years is trying to reduce their grip of the will to protect our people and by the same token protect the muslim french because they stealthily feed into a feeling which is harmful to them friendship between religion and noise and this is down to misunderstanding and so what i reaffirmed during the demi moore a speech i gave the beginning of october was my determination through a bill of law which is in the pipeline which was dubbed separatist but i remove the ambiguity that it is a bill of law to combat the violent extremist groups and individuals who are active in fronts in the name of islam it is designed to protect all french people and more broadly and indeed specifically those of the muslim faith. So what do you intend to do prevent them from taking children out of school the children of the republic but we also intend to put a stop to the financing linked to terrorists which enables them to pursue their activities so financial transparency and above all something which for me is essential in france ensuring that everyone every suspected of their faith or religion fully observe the legislation of the French Republic that is essential so that is what were doing but i want to clearly distinguish between these extremists who act in the worst ways or who justify the worst actions in their very sophisticated and dangerous speeches from muslim as a because everywhere though out the muslim world people have tried to merge these 2 groups by deforming my words lying maintaining that the president of france and therefore france has a problem with islam and i know that we have no problem with islamic not. More over our history both intellectually and culturally that is intimately linked to islam we were one of the 1st countries to translate the quran which has been taught at the sorbonne in france since the 17th century since when it has been the subject of controversy we are one of the 1st countries to have opened a magnificent mosque the great mosque of paris in the heart of our capital and we have also challenged our religious representatives with the president of the islamic faith in france the rector of the great mosque and i will tell you what ive just told you so the fight we are engaged in is one which is essential for our generations its a struggle against terrorism against violent extremism and against all speech which justifies violence in the name of islam our fight is in order to protect our fellow citizens and indeed those citizens of all other countries in the world whatever their religion including muslims. Listen so more like. Islam that word that you would in your speech at me all and particularly in that sentence which has been spread about and published several times let me quote it is a religion that is currently going through a profound crisis throw at the entire world although that sentence was taken from a speech that went on for 70 minutes people have focused on that one senator and many people have felt angry about it why did you mean president bite at sentence and by that you know this is because of you know the book and us what i said just now and you are quite right when you say that it was taken out of context from a 70 minute speech what i wanted to state clearly is that in todays world there are individuals who in the name of this religion or deform it. Claiming that they are defending it kill assassinate and slit throat and whose discourse aims at justifying a kind of withdrawal of human groups from the rest of the world there is a violence in the world today which is propagated by individuals or groups of extremists in the name of islam and this is a problem for islam and as much as muslims are the 1st victims ive already mentioned the thinkers more than 80 percent and the problem for all of us so all religions have been through this type of crisis so the crisis is not so much in the heart of his along as in Muslim Society to be more accurate likely that it was sunday necessity the crisis is within our societies because everywhere we have individuals who in the name of our religion a most of the time not knowing much about it although often in collusion with people who know more about it commit the worst atrocities or terrorist attacks acts of great violence and engage in political projects which are completely contrary to our values and our ability to live together. Extremism merging with terrorism and that these individuals are a danger for our societies this danger is something we live with look at tunisia which experienced on its own soil the terrorist attacks perpetrated by the same terrorists a lot barda the decades now algeria has been experiencing terrible attacks by terrorists in the name of this religion afghanistan has been through it and now is the turn of the sahara and Subsaharan Africa and our societies are living through it and we cant carry on as if nothing is happening on these people are not acting like this in the name of some other cause so it is because of this that the present moment is so important and that is why i wanted to address the issue because i think it is absolutely essential for all of us that all the muslims in the world a clear about this situation and that they come to the assistance of all those who want to fight against violence nothing justifies they must all come together behind the initiatives that we must take to combat not only the terrorists but also those who expound ideologies that justify terrorism. For me this is one of the key elements of the battle that we are waging against building up an ideology throughout the world which by the forming a religion becomes an ideology of death this is the extremism of islam this is what al qaeda does this is what dash does this is what the isis groups in the sahara are doing and there are several others all of these terrorist groups also have behind them people who claim to be preachers intellectuals or organizers within our societies whose discourse is barely acceptable and to justify the recourse to violence so we all need to have our red lines and in particular to condemn loud and clear all violence all right lines that are overstepped so when i see leaders be they political or religious who justify decapitations on terrorism when they consider that they are humiliated or wounded those people have to choose their camp when it comes to the moment of truth those people do not defend the muslims of the world the diff they defend terrorists and they justify their acts we must all be clear about this is of what i say this because it is a question of sending a true message out to all the muslims of the world a message of protection because they are the 1st people to be threatened by this horror so that is what i meant in that sentence if there is today an ideology with men and women who are constructing a logical death and who by distorting and deforming a religion justify crime and justify the will to no longer live together it is defeat level auntie than prevails limousin more horse or was what sort of muslims are from the Muslim Community needs to be cant enter a short yes your bucket list of course you know because all of this ultimately has an impact. French muslim us look at your media sometimes and they see your channel your social networks because sometimes you get the feeling that we are not living in the same world or at least because the project to focus on one thing only the french state does not recognize any one religion the French Society welcomes them all all the man women in france must be able to live their religions on troubled and all the french whatever their origins whatever other nationalities they might share absolutely have to observe all the laws of the republic and thats how it works but my message is one of calm and peace because this is the one message with which the french people entrusted me when i was voted in i also believe that it is the Historic Mission of our country and a very profound 11 of peace between religions because it is based on knowledge and reason in the so my role is not to inquire into your beliefs my job is to ensure that you all abide by the laws of the republic i will never accept that you do not observe the law of the country because of your religion if you live in france i want you to be able to believe in your god whoever he is in a non troubled way serenely in our country so when sometimes crimes are committed against muslims in france i want you to know that we will be intractable they happen incidents do happen too often unfortunately they happen too often to our fellow citizens irrespective of their religion or. Party discipline. President you have spoken about separatism it is a term which in a short space of time has become very widespread it is on everyones lips one has the impression that stigmatizes the millions in france in your speech at let me all you said that we had created our own separatism ourselves. And so does the state have some responsibility were usually going yes indeed or at least our policy is to combat these violent extremists who act in the name of islam because of you but the state should also reengage a policy with regard to many of the children who live in our country and who feel abandoned im quite clear about the situation when i spoke of separatism what does that mean and how does it correspond to what i was describing just now it is because you have groups that i call violent extremists acting in the name of islam and deforming the religion who teach and explain things while at the same time taking advantage of all the freedoms and rights that our republican our country offer is all they teach that people should not respect fronts or our rights and that they should as it worse step beyond our laws the thing they teach that women are not the equals of men that little girl should not have the same rights as little boys but not in fronts im telling you this very clearly not in france no we believe in the enlightenment and women citizens have the same right as male citizens do it is existential and so Never Never Never will i accept an Association Even if we were acting in the name of religion which is spouses those laws or one which says that a little girl is not the same as a little boy but you want of the same education and wont be given the same opportunities because that is not there law people who believe that should go elsewhere not on french soil so i say that those who in our country want to establish their law and separate off a part of society we must clearly fight against that because they will have to decide to separate. This is not against muslims it is against the violent extremists who do not want to remain within our law because this is the key to protecting the french and especially french muslims because i do not want a little girl whose parents believe in islam which they are perfectly entitled to do to be taken up by one of these associations and to be ill treated by them in our country that i cannot accept so when i speak of separatism my concern is not about the religion in question but about the use of certain practices in the name of any religion which moreover other practices have also been mentioned that exist in france and which of the fruit of other religions or other groups but then i say that we too have a certain responsibility because if you look at the strategy of these extremists and sometimes of terrorists they construct their entire discourse or narrative around resentment in other words they explain to the muslim world that they have been badly treated by the west youve been humiliated colonized they say and youre not treated well in their societies 1st of all look at our history ive already mentioned colonize ation in the history fronts on various continents we look at it full in the face and i know what by history is one but i do not accept it we have to follow it through to the end this reconciliation through history to the truth will. I am struck when i see that this discourse of extremist groups prospers amongst young people whove never known colonise asian people have been living in france for generations one as it were never the less because there is resentment but it is economic so i think that in france we have not done enough for all the children who arrive here for them to succeed with equal opportunities but here i wouldnt want to confuse 2 things. It has nothing to do with religion very little it often has to do with the 1st name the surname the color of ones skin the place where one lives. That a model of integration in france requires improving yourself yes it requires a greater collective engagement because we have today what i would call corporatism switch Block Society they affect everyone they affect young people who might not live in problematic districts but who come from modest backgrounds but there fact even more young people who come from modest backgrounds whose parents are often immigrants and whose skin color is different this is fact and i look at it fall so we need to do a lot more in terms of our housing policy on. We have already begun this during these last 3 years but i want to see it accelerate more like a housing policy which would mean that access throughout the country would be more balanced and then theres training we have to do much more for employment and the key factor in these districts in order to avoid the violent extremist groups who succeed is that we must succeed in retrieving the French Republican dream that these young people should be able to find opportunities economic ones that they can become champions in start ups in cinema in the Academic Field in ecological transition but the fact of the matter is that today they find themselves even more blocked than other sectors of society that is truly you get the feeling that french tickler ism is in general hypersensitive to religious affairs. I also get the feeling that some religions are hypersensitive to secularism for sure ive yet to see anyone condemned to death in the name of french secularism it will be good if everyone was so clear about the red lines for me anyone who steps over them in order to condemn someone to death or who justifies a violent action is on the other side if were clear about that we will already have made enormous progress during the course of this broadcast apart from condemnations and violence french secularism is none the less sensitive about religious matters and especially about islam such as the kirchick people have been talking about the kerchief for more than 30 years this kind of debate does not exist in the u. K. For example from afar we see the sensitivity why in france. If youve read your book in. The defense of the well 1st of all i will tell you why it exists what secularism is and why there are these differences between societies im not saying that its better in front of us i shall simply try to explain why it is as it is. Secularism is the possibility of one in the same time believing or not believing without it having any consequences on your citizenship so its a lot of freedom but it means that in france you have the freedom to believe or not believe theres irrespective of your religion and here i would invite you to examine this question critically many countries teachers how they treat their citizens when they are of such and such a religion do these people have the same rights often this is not the case in a circle then its a principle of separation between the church and the state if the state is neutral and has nothing to do with religions it neither funds nor regulates them and those the Civil Servants who serve the state are sworn to the principle of neutrality and must not wear any sign of their religion and were permitted and our schools because we are training people who are not yet adults they must provide a neutral space which is why there are no religious symbols in our schools until you age of 18 at university there can be but having said that secularism does not imply a face in religion that would not be right in society all religions are alive and you see the kitschy being worn in the streets just as you see people wearing a cross or a kipper in the streets. Or sometimes confusion over this arises but not in france there are however neutral spaces where the state is present so let me state very clearly that in france the principle of secularism has no problems and regard to islam as a religion none of it has to be said however that at the time when sects were organized in france islam was not very present muslim civilization shares a history with our country that it is a contribution to a great deal to this country for centuries me but we are all our scholars who are interested in it and we have a very strong relationship with enlightened islam. But there were very few muslim citizens in 1990. With migration in the 1960 s. And seventys and join the last decades of the young islam has grown in our country as i have sent the figures in every accurate because we dont calculate religious statistics but when i look at the analyses done by various institutions i see the 6000000 french people are of the muslim faith so we have no problem with this religion which several millions of our fellow citizens of believers on earth having said that why is it that things are not the same here is they are in Great Britain because we are not a multicultural country or society as a whole its true that the anglo saxons in several other countries in europe developed very differently from us from a religious point of view. Let me remind you that britain is still a Constitutional Monarchy where the monarch as a relationship with religion is one which was also forged through suffering the vicissitudes of the 17th century and its of the relationship with religion in britain is not the same as ours their religious policies are not the same they have a different history. As to whether or not the fact that the anglo saxons have a Multicultural Society in which various religions cohabit makes theres a better model than ours i would like to be the judge of that but its different you are right i would like to say a couple of words about the beauty of the french model in which i have a very deep belief i do not believe in fighting for one or another religion i would like to see all the children who arrive in our Country Living happily and in harmony i think that in the french ambition there is something unique and unique and that is the idea that essentially we can have the same view of the world because we are citizens of the same country men and women citizens of the same country. It is the idea that you can practice your religion believe or not believe but that we have to talk to one another respect one another so that we share the same image of the world and it means that we must know how to live together in the full sense of that word that we must be able to understand one another accept the ways in which we are different and construct a shared vision of what we are and of the rest of the world so we all have to make the effort to recognize other peoples religions to embrace them so that we can live in peace and we must have a permanent dialogue so as to build the totality of the laws which are us and it is not through religion you can withdraw from citizenship and you can never fight a religion in the name of citizenship with that is the message that france baz with us and it is one which is widespread in the middle east and on the african continent i believe that we must not lose sight of this message because when i look at the folly of the world in which we live and its brutality it too is linked with the fact that people in the same country do not want to construct their laws together and they no longer share the same vision of the world even if its affected through imperfect mediation they want their religion and their vision of the world to prevail over that of others its for this reason that i say with much humility and friendship in the true sense of the word to all muslims do not mistake what free speech is in france it is not in any way something which is there to afflict or hurt you so help me to defend it. First of all because you want up this freedom in your own countries maybe you forgot what it was like but it is the finest thing help me to defend it because it is this that makes it possible for us to live together. Without it we can only live against one another. Im not saying that people are perfect or the whoever has hurt you is innocent but the things can heal and then we have to understand the reason behind the hurt and try to reduce the misunderstandings im deeply convinced that what is happening now is more than a mere absurdity i think the by virtue of its values and the fight that it is waging today that we are waging together front sees the possibility of constructing a model for the future one of living together citizens of the same country irrespective of our religion. Then point of nothing to do who need to read the. Younger because one of Many International issues International Relations policy turkey or so what is happening with turkey this country which is at times an ally but at other times it seems that youre never on the same wavelength of them long ago and there are lots of differences between you syria and libya at the moment by the way on the relations are headed. The pond pretty dialogue and i believe that a lot of that depends on president. And for my part i stick to the principles that ive just outlined. I believe in friendship and respect him ive never insulted a world leader who whether he was never respectful of the president whom the turks have elected for themselves and im side by side with turkey as we speak turkey has been struck by a terrible seismic tremor and i should like to convey my condolences to the turkish people and to say that we needed we offered Civil Defense assistance to help the population of turkey is a great nation a great people of fame for a scholarship knowledge and openness is one with which we have University Academic and historically its a great people who is often taken inspiration from us so what is happening now that. I know that turkey has imperial designs in the region. Are in. And i do not think that these imperial designs are a good thing for the stability of the region i think the what happened in syria was a surprise for many allies within the us was present on the ground and we were present in the air within the framework of the International Coalition and i must remind you that we fought against dash in syria thanks to the Democratic Syrian forces and to the Kurdish Militia male and female militias who were enormously courageous but on the war is being won against the territorial caliphate created by turkey it invaded syria disrespectful of any sovereignty in order to combat. I regret the libyan nonobservance of the commitments entered into in berlin in berlin we were all around the table all of us committed to observing the embargo on arms and prevent any foreign competition from fighting on libyan soil we have shown that on several occasions several countries including turkey have violated the embargo turkey wasnt the only one but it did that i think these 2 examples demonstrate that turkey today has a belligerent attitude towards nato allies of the of the actions of the chute by turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean were profoundly aggressive with regard to both cyprus and greece these 2 countries are european and we support sovereignty in europe im reminding you of all of this in order to explain the relations. We have never acted belligerently towards turkey or its leaders will happen but i do not think that we can accept the present state of affairs which is the current strategy of the turkish president. I consider that as allies and friends we should be frank with one another and be clear about our lines. Now what is our wish it is that things should come down and that the turkish president should show some respect for france for the European Union and its values it should not tell lies and should not go in for insults this victory would be splendid expect i think its the absolute minimum and after that the turkish president in line with his countrys standing should put a stop to the unilateral actions which he has conducted against several European Countries that is my view and what is our ultimate wish in all of this clearly i believe in peace so i would want us to reengage erica demick University Cultural and economic relations. But the precondition for such relations is the reviving of friendly feelings and decency and there pertaining of the clarification i refer to think were not there yet and during these last weeks we have even slipped about the thought the president i must say in relation to your point that it is not a french position its a european on that. Yesterday we held a European Council where the 27 members were unanimous in supporting france and yesterday president Charles Michel came out very clearly in support of france against the attacks which is confronted by today and he called on turkey to comply with his charities in a hybrid or you letter here to the war. Delicate sensitive. It is a sin then go on to do more and here was that last question mr president because there is a stone in the fabric of civilizations between our 2 worlds. There is a test 1799 discovered by. Dollars how can we arrange for this model of intercultural relations of. All of the 11 you. See whether you know. Now Matthew Diffee of acreage to macedonia to see if you do this when the thank you for finishing with this cultural link on civilization and knowledge how to reinforce through mutual knowledge as ive said in the policies that i am pursuing we intend to invest in Higher Education and academic and Cultural Research board to create shares in french universities on the my grab bag near a middle east and muslim civilization in this medium and i would also like us to be able to multiply partnerships which is something that ive done a lot of since becoming president we all need to get to know our civilizations better so i think that the time of the Rosetta Stone is appropriate that youre you are right to quote it and one could mention many other examples to work with example but i think that the way forward for us today is that of knowledge of reason of scientific academic and educational cooperation could be us also what feeds fear so you know is a lack of understanding that. You know what feeds hatred is ignorance and the tyrants of this world maintain that. And so the most effective weapon against tyrants against these extremists when it is knowledge and understanding not to do it it is the knowledge of the face of the other person in all its roughness with all its features. It is the ability to see in the face of the other how different it is from ones own little are different civilizations the men and women that we are this is very important so i believe that this history should continue and we should do that by investing in knowledge on by stablish in chairs in the countries of the near east and arab countries both a muslim and european civilization of the enlightenment french philosophy and culture and then develop in France University chairs for a better understanding of muslim civilization allowing for academic control of the city because when controversy develops between men and women of science and the fighting between the ignorance of men and women still. I have a deep belief in that in science Mutual Respect and knowledge. But let us be quite clear that in times to come there will be hard battles to wage its difficult because today certain men and women have decided on the worst outcome and in this fight against ignorance in this fight which is one of hatred but i will need all the men and women of good will whatever their religion it was simply the circle of. Mr president thank you very much for talking to aljazeera especially because it criticize with the 24th anniversary jazeera media network. How we got some writing the full cost for the middle east over the next couple of days if a bit of cloud spilling across to you that eastern side of the mediterranean will see some wet weather just moving across the eastern side of the armenian georgia are azerbaijanis ing over towards the caspian sea but you can follow that line the cloud right down across syria lebanon jordan will be some showers in the forecast if you then as we go through the next 1000 you see this line of thick cloud also pushing across iraq northern parts of saudi arabia just as some showers there into Northern Areas of iran but to the south of that is fine and dry here in doha temperatures a very pleasant 30 degrees celsius in light winds can see some lovely weather here over the next couple of days for the south still without the usual showers across central parts of africa some of them all the lively side to southern parts of somalia could cause some flooding here show rain still brings some showers into kenya into tanzania some heavy showers on the other side of the rift valley running over towards the gulf of guinea more of the site as we go through choose day further south it is generate dry across Southern Africa but we have seen flooding rains across the eastern side of south africa that whats the weather will gradually make its way out into the open waters. 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The corpse or the badly of the head ones. So this much worse than the garbage he does all of the smell is coming from the dead bodies so thats it. You. Know where you are you. Want my. This underwater treasure is a risk of disappearing coral bleaching caused by rising temperatures. The great. Strain the area thats true here it. Is an Industry Based this we will lose instantly if we have another bleaching event of these. If this continues they just will be the opportunity for the corals to recover in between those. Scientists a calling for strong Climate Policy from the government to reduce emissions without the situation gets worse. With just more than 24 hours to go before polls open in the United States both donald trump and joe biden hold back to back. I dont acknowledge this is al jazeera line from doha also coming up the leader of tons of his Main Opposition Party is arrested ahead of mass protests to get to the president s victory in last weeks election. A 14 Year Old Girl is found beneath the rubble of fridays earthquake and the turkish city of this