Erdogan on Macron: “He has mental problems.” Count on the French President: “Unacceptable Words”

The tension between Ankara and Paris has exploded, with tones more of a bar than of international diplomacy. Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited Emmanuel macron to have his mental state checked, accusing him of being “obsessed” with him “day and night,” adding that “he really needs to undergo mental health tests.” Macron’s Proposal to Defend His Country’s Secular Values ​​Against Radical Islam, Following the Beheading of the History Professor Samuel Paty by an 18-year-old fanatic of Chechen origin, he angered the Turkish government, thus increasing the tension that had been building for some time due to a growing list of disputes between the two countries. France sided with Greece for the first time in the dispute over oil exploration by Turkish ships in the waters of Athens, but the differences also concern the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, with Paris supporting Armenian reasons and Ankara supporting Azeris. . and not least because of the differences on the Libyan front, with Macron supporting the rebel general Khalif haftar and Erdogan, who sided with the government of Fayez al-Sarraj, to which he is supplying arms in contempt of the embargo imposed on the country.

In response to the Turkish insults, Paris has decided to call its ambassador in Ankara. “President Erdogan’s words are unacceptable. The offense and vulgarity are not a method. We demand that Erdogan change the course of his policy because it is dangerous from all points of view but we do not enter into useless controversies and we do not accept insults,” he said a spokesman for the Elysee. In response, Erdogan has raised his tone further. “Muslims in Europe are the target of a lynching campaign like Jews before World War II,” he attacked, calling European leaders “fascists in the true sense of the word” and “links in the chain of Nazism.” . For the Turkish president, the underlying problem is the spread of Islamophobia: “Anti-Muslim hostility has spread like a plague”, which is why he also called for a boycott of French products.

Europe has closely aligned itself with France. German Foreign Minister Heiko maas He defined Erdogan’s words as unacceptable and assured that Germany “stands with French friends” above all “in the fight against Islamic extremists.” “The statements made by President Erdogan to President Macron are unacceptable,” the prime minister also wrote in French on social media. Giuseppe Conte. “Personal invectives – the prime minister continued – do not help the positive agenda that the EU wants to pursue with Turkey, on the contrary, they distance solutions”. “Holland – wrote the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte – stand firmly on the side of France and the collective values ​​of the European Union ”. “For freedom of expression and against extremism and radicalism,” Rutte’s tweet reads. Other certificates of solidarity have rained down in the last hours from many other EU leaders.

Among the reasons behind the escalation of statements between Paris and Ankara is also “the absence of messages of condolence and support from the Turkish president after the assassination of Samuel Paty”, the professor murdered by a young radical Islamist, denounced by the Elysee on Saturday . At least on this accusation, Turkey responded on the merits with a statement issued on Sunday, in which the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that “Turkey, which has been fighting for years against all kinds of terror and violence, regrets the murder of Samuel Paty “. The condolences, the official sources of Ankara continue, were expressed by its first representative in France or the ambassador Ismail Hakki Musa. In fact, in a tweet published on October 17, the diplomat said he was “horrified by the heinous murder of a professor at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.” , Ibrahim Kalin, condemned the gesture, but only ten days after the mocisio. “We strongly condemn the murder of Samuel Paty in France and reject this barbarism,” the spokesman tweeted. From the mouth of the Turkish president, however, there are no words.