By Vestnik Kavkaza Editor-in-Chief Maria Sidelnikova
A new release of the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo appeared on Wednesday, publishing caricatures of Muhammad and jokes about politics and religion.
The newspaper's lawyer Richard Malka said on Monday that Je suis Charlie meant the right to profanity, the right to criticize religion. He added that people had the right to talk about Christianity, Judaism and Islam in any way they like, but not about a particular person just because they are Judaist, Muslim or Christian. Charlie Hebdo will not do otherwise, emphasized Malka, leaving details about mocking religion unclarified.
The next release of Charlie Hebdo will consist of a million copies (regular releases consisted of 60,000 copies). Millions have visited the magazine's website lately. The website did not necessarily want to gain new viewers and increase the number of copies by publishing the provocative caricatures. Was murdering people worth it, even when they were publishing low-standard nonsense? Was the release of Muhammad caricatures worth it, considering the passions among Muslims, knowing how millions of followers would react to the cartoons?
The responses were different. Neither the Muslim working in the kosher store who was hiding clients from the terrorist nor the Muslim police officer killed by a terrorist in the attack on Charlie Hebdo's offices called the French their enemies. Ahmed Merabet, 42, patrolling the street, was wounded; he was finished off by a terrorist, despite not being responsible for the cartoons.
Terrorism sees no distinction between religions and nationalities. Experts say that the West is actively radicalizing Islam. They point out that Islamic State is a result of political and military effects on Islam. The structure of Islamic terrorism has serious money propelled by big international business with different interests. The terrorist attacks in the center of Europe probably served those who were taking advantage of inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts.
Observers have been wondering whether the events around Charlie Hebdo were a well-planned plot to aggravate anti-Islamic sentiment or an attempt to draw attention away from some other rising global problem.
Muslims await Europe's reaction to Islamophobia and attacks on mosques. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that he wanted to see respect for human dignity, regardless of ethnic or religious origin. The Turkish PM called Islam an essential component of the European continent, from Andalusia to the Ottoman Empire. Those who use tensions in Europe and provoke a conflict between Islam and Christianity betray European culture, Davutoglu concluded.
