Recep Tayyip Erdogan's criticisms of Emmanuel Macron meet several objectives for the Turkish president.

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/ AP / SIPA

  • This weekend, Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked Emmanuel Macron several times, attributing to him mental health problems and a hatred of Islam.

  • Words that set fire to the powder between Paris and Ankara, but which above all aim to serve the interests of the Turkish president.

  • For Dominique Moïsi, a geopolitologist interviewed by

    20 Minutes

    , all these attacks allow Erdogan to consolidate his international presence while making people forget his country's problems.

Tensions have continued to escalate this weekend between Turkey and France.

On Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharply tackled his French counterpart, recommending "mental health examinations" during his speech to the delegates of his Justice and Development Party (AKP, Islamo-conservative).

The reason for his diatribe?

The defense of the caricatures of Mohammed by Emmanuel Macron and his criticisms of radical Islamism during his speech in homage to Samuel Paty, professor assassinated during an attack in Conflans.

The Elysee did not fail to react the same evening, qualifying the remarks of the Turkish leader "unacceptable".

New excitement this Sunday, with the return to Paris of the French ambassador to Turkey, an extremely rare event, the criticism of the head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan who persists and signs, calling this Monday for a boycott French products.

For Dominique Moïsi, geopolitologist specializing in the Middle East at the Montaigne Institute, by attacking France so openly, Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to take on the role of leader of the Muslim world.

What is the interest for Recep Tayyip Erdogan to criticize Emmanuel Macron so openly?

There are two main reasons for his criticism.

First, the internal reason.

The popularity of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party is at half mast in Turkey, and the country is plagued by the economic and health crisis.

The mixture of nationalism and populism in his remarks towards Emmanuel Macron, and more broadly all his international ambitions, serves as a diversion for public opinion to make people forget the internal problems of the country.

In Rome, it was bread and play, today in Ankara, it is bread and diatribe.

He slaps on Emmanuel Macron as the Roman emperors offered gladiatorial fights.

But it would be wrong to see it as a diversion.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to be seen, he and Turkey, as the strong and firm voice of Islam in the face of the West.

There is currently an opposition being played out between Shiite Iran and Sunni Turkey to take this leadership position in the Muslim world.

At a time when part of the Arab world appears to be betraying the Palestinian cause by allying with Israel, Turkey has a fundamentalist card to play.

The way has never seemed so clear and clear to take leadership.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan reinforces the neo-Ottoman cards in a game from which even Egypt, which once also contested this place, has disappeared.

Why target France in particular?

Beyond the two major reasons mentioned above, we must also see in this verve the simple temperament of Erdogan himself, always very offensive and raw in his statements.

However, we need someone to hit on but who does not have too many answers and France seems weakened to him, which is why he is attacking her at the moment.

He cannot do it against the United States, Russia and even less China, it would have too many consequences and aftershocks.

So why not play against France?

Paris appears to him to be the smallest and the least dangerous to attack the super big.

Does he also want to appear even within the Turkish nation as a religious leader?

We have already seen this shift with the particular case of Hagia Sophia, transformed into a mosque?

It is obvious that he is also playing this card, both for the Turks and for the whole Muslim world.

He wants to be a political leader but also to appear as a religious leader, which also allows him to justify his temperament and his international ambitions mentioned above.

“I speak loud and clear, I have the will to conquer, but I do it in the name of Islam and its ambitions.

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Can Turkey become this leader of the Muslim world where will it suffer from its contradictions, being in NATO in particular, and from its origins, being an officially secular and non-Arab country?

For the moment, it is clear that Recep Tayyip Erdogan's speech is taking off abroad and in the Muslim world and that it is working.

It cannot be denied that Erdogan is currently being followed and that his remarks have generated some support from other countries.

However, it is legitimate to think that Turkey will always have a kind of glass ceiling in this leadership role because of its contradictions.

Difficult in the long term to be both the leader of believers and the southern flank of NATO.

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  • Islam

  • Middle East

  • Turkey

  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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