France shuts Diyanet's bank accounts

The French government closed the bank accounts of Turkey's religious authority Diyanet Wednesday as part of the country's new policy to "combat interference."

Deputy head of the Turkish Diyanet Foundation (TDV), Selim Argun, said in Parliament that the bank accounts belonging to the institution in Paris and Bordeaux, as well as accounts of mosque foundations, were closed

President Emanuel Macron announced Tuesday that France will stop offering foreign language classes, including Turkish lessons, if the country fails to reach an agreement with Turkey and other countries regarding its mission to combat "foreign interference."

Macron told reporters in the eastern city of Mulhouse that the government will end foreign language and cultural classes throughout the country as of September 2020.

He claimed that some groups want to separate themselves from the laicist republic and choose not to respect the laws in the name of religion.

He will be ending a program signed in 1977 that allowed nine countries, including Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, to send teachers to France for language and cultural classes without interference by French authorities. The program teaches about 80,000 students per year.

The French president said the government aims to combat foreign interference in schools and mosques in the country, and asserted that it does not target Islam and that the problem is "not Muslim French people."