Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joked Thursday about his difficult relations with French Head of State Emmanuel Macron, launching during a press conference: "Our wives get along well, not us".
Emine Erdogan, the wife of the Turkish President, and the French First Lady Brigitte Macron maintain more than cordial relations, despite the regular tensions between their husbands who spoke Thursday in Prague within the framework of the first meeting of the Political Community European.
“We will admit you if you want”
Last November, Emine Erdogan's entourage told AFP that relations between the two women - regularly photographed together at international summits - were in good shape.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was filmed earlier on Thursday making a quip at the French president, proposing France's membership in the Organization of Turkic States (OET), which includes, in addition to Turkey, Turkic-speaking countries in Asia Central and Azerbaijan.
"We will admit you if you want," he told Emmanuel Macron in the presence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron, who gave the Turkish head of state a pat on the back, said he insisted on Thursday with the latter on the need to fight against any "circumvention" of the sanctions against Russia, in the context of the war in Ukraine.
Mitsotakis leaves the diner
44 leaders from the continent met in Prague in an unprecedented format that highlighted the growing isolation of Vladimir Putin seven months after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
"The European Political Community is a very old idea which may be becoming a reality", welcomed Emmanuel Macron, who had launched the project in May, recalling that the "CPE" was a gathering much larger than the European Union, with 17 invited countries in addition to the 27 members of the bloc.
If the French president hailed the unity of all, tensions between Greece and Turkey experienced a new episode on Thursday evening: according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis left the official dinner of the informal European summit during his speech.
