Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) poses with Libya's acting Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Ankara on Monday. TURKISH PRESIDENT PRESS OFFICE H / EFE
In Turkey, the statements of last week by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, in which he called President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "dictator", who this Wednesday warned that this diplomatic crisis could have consequences in relations between Turkey and Italy.
"They are impertinence, a total lack of education," Erdogan said in response to a question from the press about Draghi's words and in what was his first public reaction on the subject.
Draghi called Erdogan a dictator after criticizing the "humiliation" suffered by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Ankara, where she was relegated to a sofa during a meeting.
In Turkey, insulting Erdogan is usually expensive: according to the statistics of the Ministry of Justice, 36,000 people were investigated in 2019 for “insult to the president”, of which a third were brought to trial and, of these, 2,663 were sentenced to prison terms. jail and another thousand to fines.
“You have been appointed to the position, you have not even been elected.
Before using such an expression against Tayyip Erdogan you should know a little more about your story.
But we see that you don't have much idea, ”the Turkish president attacked.
During the preceding days, several government ministers and political allies of Erdogan urged Draghi to look for dictators in the recent history of Italy and not in Turkey.
Erdogan has lamented that this controversy will have an effect on bilateral relations: "Just when we were hoping to get into a good point of relations between Turkey and Italy, that guy called Draghi has spoiled them with these statements."
However, he has also tried to defuse the issue by claiming whether or not he is insulted by the Italian prime minister, his government will continue on its way.
Last week, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Italian ambassador to Ankara to present its formal protest against these words and, according to the newspaper
La Repubblica,
Turkey has canceled the acquisition of 10 AW169 training helicopters for 70 million euros from the Italian company. Leonardo, although there has been no official confirmation on this point.
The Italian newspaper assures that other Italian companies with interests in Turkey, such as Ansaldo Energia, have also received warnings.
It is common that after diplomatic crises of this type - such as those that have occurred between the Erdogan government and those of France, Germany or the Netherlands - Ankara rescinds some contracts or puts difficulties for the companies of the country with which the dispute originates. But after a few months, business usually resumes.
'Dealing with dictators'
Draghi calls Erdogan dictator after criticizing the "humiliation" of Von der Leyen in Ankara
Italy is one of Turkey's main trading partners.
Bilateral trade amounts to around 18,000 million euros per year and a thousand Italian companies operate on Turkish soil.
In addition, both capitals had shown some harmony in the conflicts in the eastern Mediterranean, and Rome, together with Madrid and Berlin, last year managed to stop governments such as the Greek or French, who were betting that the EU sanction Ankara for its aggressive policy Exterior.
In the war in Libya, where Turks and Italians have supported the same side, the entente begins to crack while, now that the situation on the ground seems to calm down, both countries seek to monetize their support to the Government of Tripoli in the form of contracts and farms.
The biggest crisis between these two countries in recent decades occurred in 1998, when Italy took in the founder of the Kurdish armed group PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, after escaping from Syria and before being arrested in Kenya.
The Massimo D'Alema government threatened to offer him political asylum, which aroused the ire of Ankara and led to a boycott of Italian products and companies in Turkey that lasted a few months.
The biggest crisis between these two countries in recent decades occurred in 1998, when Italy took in the founder of the Kurdish armed group PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, after escaping from Syria and before being arrested in Kenya.
The Massimo D'Alema government threatened to offer him political asylum, which aroused the ire of Ankara and led to a boycott of Italian products and companies in Turkey that lasted a few months.
