Erdogan again offends Macron
By: Robert Jones
Tags: France, Turkey, Erdogan, Emmanuel Macron

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to criticise French President Emmanuel Macron in a hostile and violent way. Erdogan argued on Friday that “Macron is a burden on France.” The Turkish king, head of a country in a profound economic crisis, says that “Macron and France are going through a very critical period.”

A critique that many have summed up with the classic slogan “the ox that says horned to the donkey.” Given the continuous flight of foreign investors from Ankara and the Turkish lira for months at record lows in the exchange rate with the dollar, my expectation is that France can get rid of the Macron problem as soon as possible.

After Friday prayers in the church of Agia Sofia, converted into a mosque, the Turkish “sultan” spoke, which he opened again for Islamic worship. For some time, relations between Turkey and France have been strained. In several crisis situations, from the eastern Mediterranean to Libya, from Syria to Nagorno-Karabakh, the two countries have conflicting visions, allies, and interests.

In hostile attacks on Macron, Erdogan is no stranger, accusing him of being against Islam and Muslims. Erdogan even exploited the beheading of a French professor who had shown Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of Muhammad at school for propaganda reasons.

His media and those sponsored by the Muslim Brotherhood, which he professes to be the new emperor, have used the protection of the Republic’s secular principles to instigate hate speech against Paris, which has rapidly turned into bloody terrorist attacks in different European capitals.Erdogan is compared to Mohammed II in some videos of the Turkish presidency, threatening to kill Israel a number of times, calling himself the next conqueror who would restore the Islamic State, called the neo-Ottoman Empire.

Last month, under the slogan “Boycott French Products,” the Sultan also initiated a publicity campaign that was unheard of in most Arab countries, where the Brotherhood continues to play a destabilising role. Taking advantage of feelings of persecution due to COVID-19 restrictions by inciting violence and rebellion against state institutions.

The Turkish leader added yesterday that if France did not get rid of the French president, the Yellow Vests protest movement against social inequality in the world would not be able to solve it. He subsequently reported that Paris had lost its legitimacy as an intermediary for the Minsk Community, formed in the 1990s to support the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In the battle, France sided with Armenia and Azerbaijan with Turkey.The remarks from Erdogan came in the midst of reciprocal allegations from both sides. On several topics, including what Erdogan calls French Islamophobia, and energy conflicts in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya, relations have been increasingly strained.

In order to put an end to the lack of legitimacy, Ankara has entered into many illegal deals with the Tripoli-based Libyan administration, which will soon have to be replaced by a new executive. In this background, since the end of last year, Erdogan has sent to Libya tens of thousands of Syrian mercenaries, including militants, inexperienced minors and criminals fleeing the Bashar al-Assad regime.He has acquired control of numerous military bases in western and southern Libya, from which Europe is constantly under attack. Indeed the new Sultan could open the doors to millions of African migrants through the influence of local armed groups, as has already occurred repeatedly on the Greek border, where tension remains strong.