Excerpt:
Integrate into a society by learning its language and becoming involved in its social life but never assimilate, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said while addressing the Turkish community in Paris.
The prime minister spoke to an audience of 6,000 ethnic Turks living in France at the Zenith Arena late on Wednesday, the second day of his visit to France. Met with great applause when he stepped onto the stage, Erdoğan talked about the rise of Turkey and urged the French Turks to become better represented in the economic, political and social life of the country they are living in.
Stressing that assimilation is different from integration, Erdoğan said no one can demand that a person assimilate. "The demand to assimilate is a crime against humanity," he said. "No one can ask you to abandon your values, your culture." Erdoğan said if they want to live in harmony with the society they are living with, they need to integrate into the society in the best way possible.