Witness .. Erdogan to Macron: You have to examine your brain death first

The French Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned Turkish Ambassador to Paris Ismail Hakki Moussa to inquire about statements made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he described his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron as being in a brain death.

While the French presidency described President Erdogan's remarks as an insult, a statement by the French Foreign Ministry described them as unacceptable and has no place in Franco-Turkish relations and could not replace the necessary dialogue between the two countries.

President Erdogan strongly criticized his French counterpart yesterday in a speech during laying the foundation stone of the Erdogan complex at the University of Marmara in Istanbul.

"Mr. Macron, look, I am speaking from Turkey, and I will say this in NATO as well: You have to check your brain death first," he told his French counterpart.

"Would you like to talk about getting Turkey out of NATO or keeping it? Do you have the power to make such decisions?" Erdogan said.

He stressed that France ignores Turkey's concerns in Syria, while trying to find a foothold in this country. He also accused Paris of failing to meet its financial obligations to NATO.

The spring of peace
Erdogan's comments came in response to statements made by Macron three weeks ago in which he considered that NATO is suffering from brain death, in reference to his inability to curb the Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria, called "spring of peace." The French president said there was no strategic coordination between the European allies and the United States and Turkey.

Macron also criticized NATO's inability to act on what he called Turkey's "mad" attack in northern Syria.

The Turkish and French presidents are expected to attend the NATO summit in Britain next Wednesday.

Another file
Unlike the Turkish military operation in Syria, "Ankara's refusal to support NATO's defense plan for the Baltic republics and Poland is unacceptable," a French presidential adviser was quoted as saying.

Turkey refuses to back the plan until it receives more political support for its war in northeastern Syria against the YPG, which Ankara classifies as a terrorist organization.