"Macron is a problem for France. With Macron, France is going through a very dangerous period. I hope France will get rid of the Macron problem as soon as possible," said Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan to journalists in Istanbul after participating in Friday prayers in the former Hagia Sophia, transformed into a mosque in July.
"Otherwise, they (the French) will not end with the yellow vests, which could become red vests," he added, referring to the protest movement born at the end of 2018 in France.
Asked Friday about these comments during an interview with the online media Brut, Emmanuel Macron demanded "respect".
"I never got into the ad hominem response. I believe in respect," said the French president.
"The invective between political leaders is not the right method."
Relations between Turkey and France have gradually deteriorated since last year, due in particular to disagreements over Libya, Syria, the eastern Mediterranean and more recently the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Upper Karabakh.
But tensions were heightened in October when Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned the "sanity" of Emmanuel Macron, accusing him of leading a "campaign of hatred" against Islam for defending the right to caricature the prophet Muhammad and for his speech against Islamist "separatism" in France.
And Turkey's anger was rekindled at the end of October after the front page of "Charlie Hebdo" of a cartoon showing President Erdogan in a T-shirt and underwear, drinking a beer and lifting his skirt. of a woman wearing the veil, revealing her bare buttocks.
Ankara reacted by announcing the adoption of "judicial and diplomatic" measures against France.
Erdogan advises giving Marseille to the Armenians
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that France, which co-chairs the so-called Minsk group tasked with promoting a settlement to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, had "lost its role of mediator" after the Senate and the National Assembly French adopted resolutions favorable to recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"My dear friend Aliev (Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev) gave advice to the French telling them that if they love the Armenians so much, they only have to give them Marseille. Me too, I give them the same advice" , he added.
In an apparent allusion to the actions of the Turkish government and their consequences, Emmanuel Macron said in September that "the Turkish people, who are a great people, deserve something else".
Ankara reacted strongly to the remarks, which he saw as an attempt to pit the Turkish people against President Erdogan.
France has been agitating for several weeks the threat of European Union sanctions against Turkey, in particular because of the gas exploration work carried out by Ankara in the eastern Mediterranean in maritime areas disputed with Greece and Cyprus.
The European Union on Friday condemned the continuation of "unilateral acts" and "hostile rhetoric" on the part of Turkey, but it remains divided on how to sanction such behavior at the EU summit on December 10.
The EU sent an opening proposal to Ankara in October, accompanied by a threat of sanctions if Turkey did not stop its actions already condemned by the EU.
But several member states, including Germany, are opposed to the adoption of sanctions, according to European officials.
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