EU condemns Erdogan tirade against Macron

CEASE DANGEROUS SPIRAL OF CONFRONTATION, TURKEY TOLD

The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell yesterday condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for making what he described as “unacceptable” comments about his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

On Saturday, France had said it was recalling its envoy to Turkey for consultations after Erdogan said Macron needed his mental health checked. It’s the first time France’s government has withdrawn its envoy from Turkey, Macron’s office said. “The remarks by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding President Emmanuel Macron are unacceptable,” Borrell tweeted. “Call to Turkey to cease this dangerous spiral of confrontation.”

Repeats his call for psychiatric help

Erdogan yesterday repeated his call for Macron to get psychiatric help, threatening to deepen the rift between the Nato country and its European allies. “I’ve said it on Saturday and amrepeating it again,” Erdogan said in a televised speech yesterday. “Macron needs to get himself checked out.”

Erdogan initially lashed out at Macron, signalling that the French President displayed religious intolerance in promising to crackdown on extremists after the murder of a school teacher in Paris. France called Erdogan’s initial statement unacceptable and withdrew its ambassador.

France’s Junior Minister for EU Affairs Clement Beaune told Radio J that Erdogan was “seeking to fuel a destructive ambiguity, by conflating our relentless fight against Islamism with an alleged fight against Islam and Muslims.”

Erdogan is “seeking to take advantage of a dramatic event to affirm that France is fighting against Muslims,” Beaune also said.