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ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday criticized his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, for his policies towards Muslims, saying he needed “mind controls.”
Macron and Erdogan are fighting over maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean, Libya, Syria and, more recently, the escalating conflict in Azerbaijan’s separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region of Armenia.
“What can be said about a head of state who treats millions of members of different religious groups in this way? First, have mind controls,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri .
Macron’s proposal to defend his country’s secular values against radical Islam has enraged the Turkish government.
Macron this month described Islam as a religion “in crisis” around the world and said the government would introduce a bill in December to strengthen a 1905 law that officially separated church and state in France.
He announced stricter oversight of education and better control over foreign funding for mosques.
Turkey is a Muslim-majority but secular country that is part of NATO but not the EU, where its candidacy for membership has been stalled for decades due to a series of disputes.
“What is the problem of the individual named Macron with Islam and with Muslims?” Erdogan asked.
“Macron needs mental treatment.”
Erdogan also predicted that Macron would not do well in the 2022 French presidential election.
“You are constantly bothering Erdogan. This will not win you anything, ”said the Turkish leader.
“There will be elections (in France)… We will see your fate. I don’t think he has a long way to go. Why? He has not achieved anything for France and he should do it for himself.
Behind the disasters
The latest rift between the two leaders is over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic majority Armenian separatist region within Azerbaijan, which declared its independence after the fall of the Iron Curtain, sparking a war in the early 1990s that it claimed 30,000 lives.
Macron demanded this month that Turkey explain what it said was the arrival of jihadist fighters in Azerbaijan, saying: “A red line has been crossed.”
Erdogan on Saturday accused France, a member of the Minsk trio tasked with solving the conflict, of “being behind the disasters and occupations in Azerbaijan.”
He told France: “You are in the Minsk trio. What have you done so far? Have you saved Azerbaijani lands from occupation? No. You only send weapons to Armenians.
“You believe that you will restore peace with the weapons you send to the Armenians. You can’t because you’re not honest. “
Turkey has backed Azerbaijan in its latest campaign for Nagorno-Karabakh, where hundreds of people have died since fighting resumed in late September.
“I spoke with (Azerbaijani President Ilham) Aliyev this morning,” Erdogan said.
“Now, our Azerbaijani brothers are marching towards the occupied territories. They have started to claim them ”.
