Saudi Arabia government has warned against linking Islam with terrorism.
The Saudi government issued the warning while condemning the offensive cartoons of Prophet Muhammad by a French history teacher who was murdered by a Muslim extremist.
The government called for “intellectual and cultural freedom to be a beacon of respect, tolerance and peace that rejects practices and acts which generate hatred, violence and extremism and are contrary to the values of coexistence,” a Saudi foreign ministry official told state media on Tuesday.
The official added that Riyadh condemned all acts of terrorism regardless of the perpetrators, in an apparent reference to the beheading of a teacher in Paris this month by a Muslim man angered by the use of caricatures of the Prophet in a class on free speech.
The images have sparked anger in the Muslim world.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a boycott of French goods, and Pakistan’s parliament passed a resolution urging the government to recall its envoy from Paris.
The Turkish president also urged European leaders to halt what he called Macron’s “anti-Islam” agenda.
“European leaders with foresight and morals must break down the walls of fear,” Erdogan said in a speech at the start of a week of celebrations in Turkey to commemorate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
“They must put an end to the anti-Islam agenda and hate campaign that Macron is leading.”
Several Arab trade associations also announced a boycott.
Protests have been held in Iraq, Turkey and the Gaza Strip, with demonstrators in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, burning the French flag and stepping on images of French Presdent Emmanuel Macron.
The criticism came after Macron pledged to fight “Islamist separatism”, saying it was threatening to take over some Muslim communities in France.
Critics say Macron’s rhetoric encourages Islamophobia, incites hate and alienates his country’s six million Muslims – the largest Muslim minority in Europe.