--- description: Turkey leads the world in jailing journalists, and its president loathes cartoonists. title: Why Turkey's Prime Minister Was an Awkward Fit at Paris March image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80e5fdf64117045f/69877988cd684893ce0990e1/ahmet-davutoglu1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Turkey's Awkward Place in the Paris March  by [Karl Vick](/author/karl-vick/)  ## Karl Vick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Jan 12, 2015 10:32 PM CUT  Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, center right, talks to French President Francois Hollande, center left, during the Unity March 'Marche Republicaine' in Paris, France on Jan. 11, 2014. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, center right, talks to French President Francois Hollande, center left, during the Unity March 'Marche Republicaine' in Paris, France on Jan. 11, 2014.Hakan Goktepe—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images  by [Karl Vick](/author/karl-vick/)  ## Karl Vick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Jan 12, 2015 10:32 PM CUT Prominent among the foreign leaders marching through downtown Paris on Sunday was Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, one more leader from a Muslim nation making a show of solidarity with the victims of Islamist extremism. In many ways it was a good fit: Turkey’s population is overwhelmingly Muslim, but its government is avowedly secular. The country was founded, in fact, on the principles of separation between church and state embedded in modern France, where its founding father studied. Turkey is also a member of NATO, and a long-standing applicant to the European Union. But in other ways, the Turkish presence was incredibly awkward. Though the Paris march honored journalists killed in the attack on the monthly satirical magazine _Charlie Hebdo_, Turkey currently has more reporters in jail, 40, than any other country, even Iran and China. And the country’s increasingly autocratic president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has a particular problem with editorial cartoons: He’s [repeatedly sued](http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/49762-141104-turkey-summons-german-envoy-over-erdogan-as-dog-cartoon "undefined") Turkish cartoonists, claiming damages for being portrayed variously as a giraffe, a monkey, and an elephant. In 2011 the German ambassador to the country was summoned to the Foreign Ministry after a Berlin newspaper printed a panel showing Erdogan’s name on a doghouse. But that wasn’t the only problem in Paris. It turns out that, mere days before Davutoglu traveled to France, a Parisian suspect in the terror attacks was making her way through Turkey. Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, said to be the accomplice of Amedy Coulibaly, who shot dead four people at a suburban kosher supermarket on Friday before police killed him, flew to Istanbul on Jan. 2\. She was videotaped having[ her passport stamped](http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4614344,00.html "undefined") at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, and crossed into Syria on Thursday, Jan. 8\. She may have been on her way to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, or ISIS, the extremist group Coulibaly claimed as his own. ### Hundreds of Thousands March for Victims in France  People take part in a silent procession for victims of the shooting at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Jan. 10, 2015, in Nice, southeastern France. Lionel Cironneau—AP  A man holds a French flag during a silent walk for victims of the shooting at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Jan. 10, 2015, in Nice. Lionel Cironneau—AP  Tens of thousands of people some holding up signs that read, "Je suis Charlie" march in Nice, on Jan. 10, 2015. Valery Hache—AFP/Getty Images  Demonstrators hold signs that reads "Je suis Charlie" during a rally in Nantes on Jan. 10, 2015,. Jean-Sebastien Evrard—AFP/Getty Images  A man hold a rose and pencil during a rally at the Memorial Square in Caen on Jan. 10, 2015. Charly Truballeeau—AFP/Getty Images  Thousands peoples walks during a tribute to the victims of the attack on the Paris headquarters of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Toulouse, Jan. 10, 2014. Guillaume Horcahuel—EPA  Children lay flowers outside the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket near Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris, Jan. 10, 2015. Yves Herman—Reuters  Messages left by people visiting a makeshift memorial are pasted to a wall near the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Jan. 10, 2015. David Azia—AP Turkish officials point out that Boumeddinene entered Turkey well before the _Charlie Hebdo_ attack, and that no government flagged her until after she had entered Syria. Davutoglu noted his government has deported more than 1,500 individuals suspected of using Turkey as a corridor to Syria, and placed restrictions on 7,000 more. “We support every kind of intelligence not to accept foreign fighters,” he said [at a joint news conference ](http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2015/01/12/turkeygermany-discuss-bilateral-relations "undefined")on Monday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Still, the episode pointed up the treacherous ambiguities that linger around Turkey’s involvement in Syria. Though keen to avoid involving its own armed forces in the civil war, Turkey has long encouraged rebel groups opposed to Syrian president Bashar Assad, allowing them to establish rear guard headquarters in Turkish border towns, and turning a blind eye to illicit crossings to carry the fight to the regime. Ankara says it has tightened up since the rebellion has become dominated by Islamist extremists, but some critics question its resolve and, in any event, Boumeddinene’s experience demonstrates the practical challenges of enforcing any policy. And while Davutoglu was in Europe making nice, Erdogan was back in Ankara, preparing to lash out. “The West’s hypocrisy is obvious,” Erdogan [said on Monday](http://news.yahoo.com/turkeys-erdogan-accuses-west-hypocrisy-over-paris-attacks-195756066.html "undefined") while receiving Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who had traveled to Turkey after attending the Paris march. “Games are being played with the Islamic world, we need to be aware of this.” All of this, and more, shadows Turkey’s stubborn effort to join the European Union, an increasingly unlikely development as Erdogan clamps down on press freedom and tightens judicial controls. But then, as Davutoglu pointed out in Berlin, some 3 million Turks already reside in Germany, many descended from [guest workers recruited in the 1960s](http://www.dw.de/turkish-guest-workers-transformed-german-society/a-15489210 "undefined") to fill labor shortages. Their presence may well present challenge enough for Europe, given the continent’s limited success in integrating immigrant populations. Just as Davutoglu proved in Sunday’s march, Turks in Europe often make for an uneasy fit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3664575/turkey-paris-syria-march-charlie-hebdo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3664575/turkey-paris-syria-march-charlie-hebdo/"},"headline":"Turkey's Awkward Place in the Paris March","datePublished":"2015-01-12T22:32:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:15.548Z","description":"Not only does its president hate cartoonists, but a terror suspect passed through it to get to Syria last week","url":"https://time.com/3664575/turkey-paris-syria-march-charlie-hebdo/","keywords":["Turkey","Erdogan","press freedom","Charlie Hebdo","paris terror attacks"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80e5fdf64117045f/69877988cd684893ce0990e1/ahmet-davutoglu1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Karl Vick","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/karl-vick/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80e5fdf64117045f/69877988cd684893ce0990e1/ahmet-davutoglu1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"World leaders attend Unity March in Paris","caption":"World leaders attend Unity March in Paris","creditText":"Hakan Goktepe—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3664575/turkey-paris-syria-march-charlie-hebdo/","name":"Turkey's Awkward Place in the Paris March"}}]}] ```