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Macron calls his ambassador to Turkey for consultations after Erdogan questions his mental health

2020-10-25T17:09:32.226Z


Paris also blames Ankara for not condemning the terrorist attack in Conflans-Sainte-HonorineThe harsh tone between Paris and Ankara is not new. The reaction yes. France has called its ambassador to Turkey for consultations, following the "unacceptable" statements by its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, against the French president, Emmanuel Macron, whose "mental health" it has questioned this weekend on up to two occasions. An extraordinary decision that opens a new chapter, full of ques


The harsh tone between Paris and Ankara is not new.

The reaction yes.

France has called its ambassador to Turkey for consultations, following the "unacceptable" statements by its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, against the French president, Emmanuel Macron, whose "mental health" it has questioned this weekend on up to two occasions.

An extraordinary decision that opens a new chapter, full of questions, in a recent history of political clashes on several fronts that have raised bilateral tension to unprecedented levels.

For Paris, Ankara "stokes hatred" against France and the French at a time when the country is the victim of a new Islamist attack.

The European Union has asked the Turkish head of state this Sunday to lower his tone, a demand that so far Erdogan seems to ignore.

The call for consultations of an ambassador is a diplomatic tool that France does not usually make much use of.

In fact, despite strong bilateral tensions, it is the first time it has been used against Ankara, the Elysee confirmed this Sunday.

It seeks to be a "very strong signal" of the discomfort in Paris at the attitude of the Turkish government, according to Macron's environment told Agence France Presse.

The last time that France called an ambassador as a gesture of protest was in February 2019 with the French representative to Rome, to express the rejection of Paris before the meeting of the then Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Luigi di Maio, with a group of

yellow vests

.

The last straw for Paris's patience in the face of Ankara was Erdogan's televised speech on Saturday, during which he harshly criticized Macron's decisions to combat "Islamist separatism," which includes fighting what France calls "political Islam."

The government has hardened its response following the beheading of Samuel Paty, a history teacher at a secondary school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, outside Paris, who had shown caricatures of Muhammad in a free speech class.

"All that can be said of a head of state who treats millions of members of different religious communities in this way is: go get a mental health exam first," Erdogan said on Saturday.

Despite protests from France, the Turkish president returned to the fray on Sunday.

Macron "is obsessed with Erdogan, night and day," he said in another television appearance.

"So you really need a (mental) checkup," he insisted.

“President Erdogan's statements are unacceptable.

Excess and rudeness are not methods.

We demand that Erdogan change the course of his policy, as he is dangerous in every way.

We do not enter into useless polemics and we do not accept insults, ”Elíseo responded on Saturday night through AFP, while announcing the call for consultations from its ambassador.

The outrage of Paris is not only due to those words of more than Erdogan, but also the absence of more important ones: the lack of a Turkish conviction after the brutal murder of Paty.

“In addition to the absence of any official statement of condemnation or solidarity from the Turkish authorities after the terrorist attack in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, there has also been hateful and slanderous propaganda against France for several days, demonstrating a willingness to stoke the hatred against us and in our midst, and direct insults against the President of the Republic, expressed at the highest level of the Turkish State, "said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this Sunday in a harsh statement.

"This behavior is unacceptable, even more so in an allied country," he added.

Paris has also taken note of Erdogan's support for "a boycott of French products", an appeal made in several Muslim countries in recent days following the official defense in France of the publication of the Muhammad cartoons.

The High Representative for EU Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, called on the Turkish leader this Sunday to lower his tone.

“President Erdogan's words about President Macron are unacceptable.

I call on Turkey to stop this dangerous spiral of confrontation, ”Borrell wrote on Twitter.

The head of European diplomacy recalled that Brussels has a “real offer to relaunch our relationship” with Ankara, but stressed that for this “a real will from the Turkish authorities on that positive agenda is needed.” “Otherwise, Turkey will remain even more isolated, ”he warned.

France and Turkey have collided in recent months on numerous political fronts, from the conflict in Libya or Syria to the tensions in the eastern Mediterranean or, more recently, the conflict in Upper Karabakh.

But there is another issue that has especially irritated Erdogan and that is the French offensive against religious extremism, since it directly affects Turkish interests - and influence - in France: although Turks constitute only 10% of Muslims in France, The 300 "consular imams", the imams paid by a third country who preach in French mosques and whom Macron wants to curb, half are Turks. Turkey was also the only country that had problems negotiating a new agreement when Macron, in February, announced with the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year a new program to replace the ELCO (Teachers of Language and Culture of Origin) that, since 1977, it allowed teachers educated and paid by other countries (including Turkey, but also Spain, Italy or Portugal) to teach in France. The program, which benefited some 80,000 students, had a problem, according to Macron: that many teachers were not fluent in French and that the French state had no control over what they taught, which could open the way to radicalization.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-10-25

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