The reaction will have been quick. Deputy RN Joris Hébrard received a reprimand from his party this Friday for having participated in the inauguration of a cultural and religious center dedicated to the Turkish community in the commune of Pontet, near Avignon (Vaucluse ), reports Provence.
The party’s executive office informed the elected official that it “disapproved of his initiative”, accusing the mosque concerned of being “openly linked to Turkish power and networks of influence”.
During the interview, the deputy from Vaucluse was reminded of “the political line of the National Rally: the intransigent fight against all forms of communitarianism as well as the rejection of foreign influences, in particular Erdogan’s Islamist Turkey, on the French national soil”, details the local newspaper. Initially, the subject was only to be discussed on Tuesday, March 28, during a group meeting.
A “personal initiative”
The inauguration took place last Friday and it sparked controversy in the department, in particular with Éric Zemmour’s party, Reconquest, which demanded that the deputy be expelled from his party. A few days after the events, Marion Maréchal – former member of the RN – said she was “extremely disappointed and scandalized”.
For her part, Marine Le Pen had insisted, during a press conference on Wednesday, that it was a “personal initiative” that she “very clearly” disapproved of.
For his part, the entourage of Joris Hébrard explained to France Inter that “the Turkish community was very established, very present” in the constituency of the elected official, who “knows it well”. Before becoming a deputy, he was mayor of Pontet for more than seven years.