Jean-Yves Le Drienne confirmed that the French Ambassador to Turkey is returning to Paris for consultations as a result.
Statements made by Turkish management with regard to France are unacceptable and constitute a lie. This was stated in a statement issued on Sunday by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“The absence of official condemnation or solidarity with France following the terrorist attack in Conflant- Saint Honorin, has now been accompanied in recent days by hate propaganda against our country. As well as direct insults from the top Turkish leadership to the French head of state [Emmanuel Macron]. All of this shows the desire to incite hatred against France, as well as within the country itself,” said the head of French diplomacy.
Le Drian stressed that “such behaviour is unacceptable, especially from an allied country. The Foreign Minister confirmed the information that appeared on Saturday that the French Ambassador to Turkey “has been recalled in connection with the events and is returning to Paris for consultations this Sunday, 25 October.
Sharp words
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan made the statement on Saturday that Emmanuel Macron “needs treatment for mental disorders”. The Turkish leader responded to the French leader’s remarks about Islam in connection with a terrorist attack in the Parisian suburb of Conflant-st Honorin, where an 18-year-old Islamist killed a school teacher of history and geography on 16 October. After the incident, Macron warned that the French authorities “are actively fighting against radical ideology bearers and the associations they have formed”.
Erdogan, for his part, expressed the view that the French president demonstrates “inappropriate attitude towards the millions of people in his country who practice a different religion”. He also called it “a manifestation of Islamophobia” to search mosques in Berlin and urged “to remember that every such manifestation of hostility towards Islam is also a manifestation of hostility towards Turkey”. According to Erdogan, “such offences against Muslims are evidence of the rise of European fascism to a new level”.
The deterioration of relations between France and Turkey occurred against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the Eastern Mediterranean. Paris accuses the Turkish side of violating the UN arms embargo on Libya and the transfer of militants from Syria. In June, for example, a Turkish frigate off the coast of Libya refused to carry out an order to inspect a cargo from a French frigate participating in the EU arms embargo monitoring mission to that country, and took it in the target area using a missile guidance radar system. In addition, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Turkey’s actions against Greece and Cyprus, describing them as violating the sovereignty of these countries.