ANKARA, TURKEY: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday hit out at a French manifesto calling for certain passages of the Holy Quran to be removed in response to rising anti-Semitism.

An open letter, published on April 22 in Le Parisien newspaper and signed by nearly 300, argued that verses of the Quran calling for the “murder and punishment of Jews, Christians and disbelievers” should be removed because they are “obsolete”.

Signatories included former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and former prime minister Manuel Valls as well as intellectuals and other public figures.“Who are you to attack our scriptures? We know how vile you are,” Erdogan retorted.

“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.”

A third of France’s record hate crimes target Jews, despite the community making up only 0.7 percent of the population.

But Erdogan also pointed to Islamophobia in the West, saying Ankara had warned its partners of “Islamophobia, anti-Turkish feeling, xenophobia, racism”.

In a second speech later, Erdogan argued the signatories were “no different” from the Islamic State extremist group.

“Our attitude should be a lesson for Islamophobic European politicians who protect those who attack Islam in the name of defending Western values, who pat on the back those who burn mosques,” Erdogan said.

He added this message was directed “especially for Sarkozy.”

Relations between Turkey and the West have been tense following the July 2016 failed coup but ties with France have been further strained in recent weeks.

Tension rose after French President Emmanuel Macron offered to mediate between Turkey and outlawed Kurdish militants, an offer furiously rejected by Erdogan in March.

Despite the letter being published last month, the Turkish government first reacted at the weekend as the country gets ready for parliamentary and presidential polls in June.

Turkey’s Europe Minister Omer Celik said on Sunday the letter was “the most striking example of intellectual violence and barbarity”.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Monday that the signatories were the “21st century’s idiots”.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu also hit out at the manifesto saying it was like that of other extremist groups: “Your attitude supports al Qaeda… and Islamic State,”.