As Turkish President Erdogan again verbally attacked Emmanuel Macron, questioning his sanity, the French president recalled his ambassador to Ankara.
For its part, the entourage of the Turkish presidency accuses Europe of demonizing Muslims, pointing in particular to the accusations of separatism against them.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounces Turkey's attitude on Sunday morning, as the tone rises again between Paris and Ankara.
After the issue of tensions in the Mediterranean with Greece, the situation in Libya and the clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh, it is the discourse on separatism that does not pass for the Turkish president to the point that he now attacks directly to Emmanuel Macron, and invites him to seek treatment.
Freedom according to Macron, Islamophobia according to Erdogan
According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his French counterpart must go to a psychiatric hospital.
A verbal escalation in reaction to recent speeches by Emmanuel Macron who, after the assassination of Samuel Paty, said he wanted to defend the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
But Erdogan does not hear it that way: for him, what France presents as freedom, for him is nothing other than Islamophobia.
"All you can say to a head of state who treats millions of members of different religious communities in this way is, first of all, 'go for mental health exams'", vociferated the Turkish president. against the French head of state.
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Very personal attacks, in a context where Ankara does not support the French bill on separatism, which provides for stricter control of the funding of mosques and the ban on the training of imams abroad.
A provocation, according to Erdogan.
Sunday morning, the Elysee Palace had already reacted by highlighting the absence of a message of condolence from the Turkish president after the assassination of Samuel Paty.
An official in the Turkish presidency said on Sunday that the "offensive cartoons" of the Prophet Muhammad were being used to intimidate Muslims in Europe under the pretext of freedom of speech, as tension mounts between Ankara and Paris.
The director of communications in the Turkish presidency, meanwhile, accused Europe of demonizing Muslims, as Jews had been in the 1920s. "The insidious policy of offensive cartoons, accusations of separatism against Muslims and Mosque searches are not linked to freedom of expression, "Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter.
"This is about intimidating Muslims and reminding them that they are welcome to continue to make the economy of Europe work, but that they will never be a part of it - against the backdrop of rhetoric about integration, ”he added.
Europe's hostility towards Muslims and efforts to 'discipline' them is inseparable from the increasingly widespread hostility towards Islam, Turkey and our president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
- Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) October 25, 2020
France recalls its ambassador, "a very strong signal"
As a result of all this, France has recalled its ambassador to Ankara.
An extremely rare decision in the diplomatic world, and completely unprecedented in the history of Franco-Turkish diplomatic relations.
The act, says the entourage of Emmanuel Macron, is "a very strong signal".
Last November, Erdogan had already questioned the mental health of Emmanuel Macron, responding to the words of the French president on the "brain death" of NATO by inviting him to "examine his own brain death".
"Insults and provocations from Erdogan, we have had almost every week this summer," we admitted on Saturday in the entourage of President Macron.
What would change this time is "the context".