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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounced what he called a “Turkish desire to ignite hatred” against France and its president, Emmanuel Macron, and noted that the French ambassador to Ankara would return to Paris for “consultations” from Sunday, October 25, 2020.
“In the absence of an official condemnation or solidarity from the Turkish authorities after the terrorist attack in Conflans Saint-Honorine, a few days ago, hate propaganda and slander against France have been added,” Le Drian said in a statement.
France expressed a lack of solidarity on the part of some other countries, after the history and geography teacher Samuel Patti was assassinated when leaving the school where he taught in the Paris region. A young Russian Chechen extremist fanatic was beheaded for showing his students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a free speech lesson.
Le Drian also denounced “direct insults against the president (Emmanuel Macron) expressed at the highest levels of the Turkish state.” The minister added that “the French ambassador to Turkey (Hervé Magro) has been summoned and is returning to Paris as of Sunday, October 25, 2020 for consultations.”
On Saturday, the French presidency announced the revocation of its ambassador in Ankara, after Erdogan launched new attacks against Macron.
Two weeks ago, the Turkish president, who used to engage in verbal altercations with Macron, denounced the French president’s statements on “Islamic isolationism” and the need to “structure Islam” in France, at a time when the French government presented a bill about it.
“What can you say about a head of state who treats millions of followers of different religions in this way? First of all: monitor your mental health,” the Turkish president said in a televised speech on Saturday.
Summoning an ambassador to “consult”, depending on the expression used, is a rare diplomatic step and will apparently set a precedent in the history of Franco-Turkish relations.
The previous call for a French ambassador dates back to February 2019, when Paris wanted to protest against a meeting that brought together Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio and protesters in the “yellow jackets”. For his part, the French Minister of State for European Affairs, Clement Bonn, on Sunday condemned Erdogan’s desire to “destabilize”, saying that the Turkish president presents himself as “the protector of Muslims in a completely exploitative way.”
Bonn called, through a radio interview, Europe to stop acting “naively” towards Turkey “as it has been doing for the last 15 years.”
