Paris

The U.S. State Department has reacted to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an?s remarks criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?s attendance of the anti-terror solidarity march in Paris.

State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said she ?vehemently disagrees? with Erdo?an?s words that accused the Israeli prime minister of being hypocritical of Netanyahu.

Notorious French comedian Dieudonné was arrested Jan. 14 for being an "apologist for terrorism" after writing a Facebook comment suggesting he sympathised with one of the Paris attacks gunmen, a judicial source said.

German President Joachim Gauck told the country's Muslim community Tuesday that "we are all Germany" at a rally to condemn the Paris jihadist attacks and take a stand against rising Islamophobia.
      

The head of Europe's police organisation Europol said on Jan. 13 the continent was facing its greatest security threat in more than a decade, with as many as 5,000 Europeans who have joined fighting in Syria posing a risk to their homelands.
   

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo's new edition is attracting huge interest hours after going on sale, with unprecedented circulation and e-versions in five languages, including Turkish and Arabic.

The magazine, which was subject to an attack that claimed the lives of 12 people last week, is now bearing a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad on its cover enjoying a mixed reception.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is expected in Sofia on Wednesday to discuss both bilateral and EU issues, with security also on the agenda.

Islam is a European reality and Muslims across the continent are there to stay, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu told journalists while returning from Berlin late on Jan. 12.

"There is a settled persuasion that a solution can be found via accepting that Islam is a European reality," Davuto?lu said, commenting on the hot debate over rising Islamophobia in Europe.

My wife Tansu and I were one of the earliest participants in the Paris march the other day and were therefore able to get right beside the statue in Republique Square.

The first thing that attracted my attention was this: The atmosphere was such that the immigrants climbed the platform of the sculpture before the French.

Thus wrote an Islamist columnist after the attacks in the French capital. In a related story, his newspaper used the word terror in quotation marks, clearly implying that it disagreed that the attacks in Paris were acts of terror.

Since the cruel attacks in Paris that killed 17 innocent human beings, Turks are discussing what really happened and why. Like on any other issue, there is a spectrum of views.

On the nicer end of the spectrum, there are millions of Turks who condemned the terrorists and offered solidarity with Charlie Hebdo and the French people. They have done the right thing.