What happened in Paris when so-called religious radicals butchered 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine offices because they insulted the Prophet Muhammad has been an eye opener for everyone, not only in the West but also among the responsible Muslim leaders and scholars.It is really exciting to hear Professor Mehmet Görmez, the head of Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs (DİB) and Pope Francis speak along the same lines on the same day in different locations. They both said freedom of expression cannot be used to insult what is sacred for people and to belittle their beliefs.The Pope said he staunchly defended freedom of expression, but then he said there were limits, especially when people mocked religion. "If my good friend Doctor Gasparri [who organizes the pope's trips] speaks badly of my mother, he can expect to get punched," he said, throwing a pretend punch at the doctor, who was standing beside him. "You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit." The pope also said he strongly condemns all those who kill in the name of God.Just as the pope was making these statements to journalists on the way to the Philippines, in the northwestern border province of Edirne, Görmez was reading out the final communique after the annual meeting of the muftis of Turkey where he said "the values that religion accepts as scared should be respected by everyone whether they believe in religion or not. The scorn, belittle and exploit sacred religious values, to insult them and to violate them cannot be regarded within the scope of freedom of expression. Muslims should turn their backs on those who do this by following the universal messages of the Quran and taking the teachings of the Prophet that are valid at all times as their guide and should display their reactions within the framework of the messages of compassion of Islam and at a reasonable level. Reactions that try to justify actions that lead to killings cannot be justified by provocations. This is unacceptable in Islam."These are the clear and identical messages of two very prominent religious leaders. It is time everyone paid more attention to these statements. What the artists of the Charlie Hebdo satire magazine drew and what its writers wrote were clearly highly insulting and scornful for Muslims as well as people of all faiths. What left-wing Turkish daily Cumhuriyet did a few days ago by publishing some sections of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo as a show of solidarity with the French magazine by omitting the parts on Prophet Muhammad and Islam is also the wrong approach to the issue. What Cumhuriyet is doing is not promoting freedom of expression while respecting Islam but it is supporting the idea that you can insult the sacred values of people and hide behind freedom of expression, which is unacceptable.If the executives of Cumhuriyet feel they can boost their sagging circulation through this publicity stunt, they are mistaken. The long term repercussions are too serious. What is sad is that the prosecutor has launched an investigation against the daily and is questioning the columnists who supported Charlie Hebdo. That too is needless because all you do is create needless heroes and you add more ammunition for those who claim Turkey is failing in its freedom of expression record.It is high time Western politicians in general started making the same distinction between insulting the sacred values of human beings and accepting this as a part of freedom of expression. It is also time for responsible officials of the Islamic world to teach the believers that Islam is a religion of peace and compassion, and that the actions that lead to the violence and killings are unacceptable in the Quran and according to the teachings of our beloved Prophet.