Erdogan slams 'vile' French critics calling for Quran change

Turkey's president on Tuesday hit out at the “vile” French critics behind a proposal to change parts of the Quran, saying they “know nothing” about the Muslim holy book. Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the 300 French authors and politicians behind the proposal, which called for removing passages of the Quran they blamed for violence, of double standards in relation to other religious texts. "Who are you to attack our scriptures? We know how vile you are," Erdogan said. “Have they ever read their books, the Bible? Or the Torah?" Erdogan asked, referring to the Christian and Jewish holy books, adding: "If they had read them, they probably would want to ban the Bible." Erdogan’s intervention followed weeks of pushback against the manifesto, backed by former president Nikolas Sarkozy and other senior French politicians, which called for the removal of verses it claimed encouraged “murder and punishment of Jews, Christians and disbelievers.” Ref >>> Middleeasteye