Harsh clash between Italy and Turkey after the sentences of Prime Minister Draghi who, commenting on the 'sofagate' against the President of the EU Commission Ursula Von der Leyen, defined Turkish President Erdogan "a dictator".
Ankara summoned the Italian ambassador and demanded that "these ugly and brazen claims" be "immediately withdrawn".
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay replies directly to Draghi: "If you want to see what a dictatorship is, you have to look at the recent history" of your country "and you will see it very clearly".
"Turkey is a country that has an elected parliament and an elected president, towards which we have a series of concerns and with which we cooperate in many sectors. It is a complex picture but it is not up to the EU to qualify a system or a person". A spokesman for the EU Commission said this when answering the question whether Brussels shares the opinion of Prime Minister Mario Draghi who defined Erdogan a dictator. The concerns raised by the EU towards Ankara, he added, "concern freedom of expression, fundamental rights, the situation of the judicial system".