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International Desk: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hopes France will get rid of Emmanuel Macron as soon as possible, the latest salvo in an escalating war of words between the two leaders.<\/p>\nInternational Desk: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hopes France will get rid of Emmanuel Macron as soon as possible, the latest salvo in an escalating war of words between the two leaders.<\/p>\n
Turkey is embroiled in a series of disputes with France and its EU partners, from tensions in the eastern Mediterranean to the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.<\/p>\n
The spat has risen to new levels in recent months as France has moved to crack down on Islamist extremism after several attacks on its soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cMacron is trouble for France. With Macron, France is passing through a very, very dangerous period. I hope that France will get rid of Macron trouble as soon as possible,\u201d Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul.<\/p>\n
He said the French should dump their leader \u201cotherwise they will not be able to get rid of yellow vests\u201d, referring to the protest movement that erupted in France in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cYellow vests could later turn into red vests,\u201d Erdogan said, without elaborating.<\/p>\n
The Turkish leader has repeatedly suggested that Macron get \u201cmental checks\u201d and urged the Turkish people to boycott French-labelled products.<\/p>\n
Erdogan\u2019s diatribe came as the European Union weighs imposing sanctions against Turkey at a December 10 summit, largely over its standoff with EU member Greece in the eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
Diplomats have said that Paris is pressing for such punitive measures against Ankara even if some key EU members \u2014 notably Germany \u2014 are more circumspect and want a diplomatic approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are ready to use the means at our disposal,\u201d said European Council chief Charles Michel, expressing dismay over Ankara\u2019s \u201cunilateral acts\u201d and \u201chostile rhetoric\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a televised interview Friday, Macron appeared unwilling to be drawn into a new round of insults with Erdogan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in respect\u2026 I think invective between political leaders is not a good method,\u201d said Macron.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Give Marseille to Armenians\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
Turkey and France are also at odds over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan populated by ethnic Armenians that broke away from Baku\u2019s control in a 1990s post-Soviet war.<\/p>\n
Fresh fighting broke out in September, leaving several thousand people dead, until a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal was sealed last month.<\/p>\n
Turkey is a staunch ally of Azerbaijan and Macron \u2014 whose country has a large Armenian community \u2014 repeatedly accused Ankara of sending Syrian militia to fight for Baku.<\/p>\n
Last month, the French Senate adopted a non-binding resolution calling on France to recognise Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are a mediator but on the other side, you have passed a resolution in your parliament\u2026 about a region on which you are supposed to be a mediator,\u201d Erdogan charged.<\/p>\n
France along with Russia and the United States co-chairs the Minsk Group, which has led talks seeking a solution to the conflict for decades but has failed to reach a lasting agreement.<\/p>\n
Erdogan also repeated comments by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that France should concede the Mediterranean port city of Marseille \u2014 home to one of France\u2019s biggest Armenian communities \u2014 to Armenia if it wanted to establish a state for the Armenians of Karabakh.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am giving the same advice: if they are so keen, they should give Marseille to Armenians,\u201d Erdogan said.<\/p>\n
In September, Macron\u2019s comments on the simmering eastern Mediterranean standoff, which has pitted Turkey against Greece and the rest of the EU, drew Ankara\u2019s wrath.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Turkey, who are a great people, deserve something else,\u201d Macron said in comments slammed by Ankara as meddling in domestic politics.<\/p>\n
Macron told Al-Jazeera in October France wanted things to \u201ccalm down\u201d but it was essential first that the \u201cTurkish president respects France, respects the European Union, respects its values, does not tell lies and does not utter insults\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International Desk: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hopes France will get rid of Emmanuel Macron as soon as possible, the latest salvo in an escalating war of words between the two leaders. Turkey is embroiled in a series of disputes with France and its EU partners, from tensions in the eastern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":64559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n