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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Emmanuel Macron is in need of mental health treatment for his attitude towards Muslims, prompting France to withdraw its ambassador.
Paris has described Erdogan’s comments as unacceptably rude, adding: “We do not accept insults.”
During a party meeting, the Turkish leader had said: “What is the problem of this person named Macron with Muslims and Islam? Macron needs treatment on a mental level.
“What else can you say to a head of state who does not understand freedom of belief and who behaves in this way with millions of people who live in his country and who are members of a different faith?”
Erdogan says his French counterpart ‘does not understand freedom of belief’
Erdogan’s comments appeared to be in response to the French president declaring war on “Islamist separatism”, which he believes is taking over some Muslim communities.
France has been rocked by the beheading of a teacher by a radical Islamist.
History teacher Samuel Paty had shown cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a class on freedom of expression. His murder is being investigated as an Islamist terrorist attack.
Using unusually strong language in its response to Erdogan, the French presidency said: “Excess and rudeness are not a method. We demand that Erdogan change his policy, which is dangerous in all respects.”
Officials also noted that Turkey’s leader did not offer condolences after the teacher’s beheading.
Paty was a 47-year-old history teacher murdered in a Paris suburb
Erdogan has tried to make Islam mainstream in politics in Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim but constitutionally secular country.
Although Turkey and France are members of NATO, both countries have been at odds over a number of issues, including Syria, Libya and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
France has also sided with Greece and Cyprus in tensions with Turkey over offshore oil and gas drilling in the eastern Mediterranean, drawing criticism from Ankara.
