France on Saturday said it was withdrawing its envoy to Turkey for consultations following comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoga...
France on Saturday said it was withdrawing its envoy to Turkey for consultations following comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who suggested French counterpart Emmanuel Macron needed a mental health check.
France and its NATO ally are at odds over a range of issues, including maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean, Libya, Syria and the escalating Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
But Ankara is now in the throes of a Macron-backed campaign to defend France's secular values against radical Islam, a debate that was further exacerbated by the killing this month of a teacher who told his class a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
"What can be said about a head of state who treats millions of members of different faith groups this way: first, to do mental checks," Erdogan said in a televised speech.
"What is the problem of the individual called Macron with Islam and with Muslims?" asked Erdogan.
"Macron needs mental treatment," Erdogan added, adding that he did not expect the French leader to win a new term in the 2022 election.
In an extremely unusual move, a French presidential official said the French ambassador to Turkey was withdrawing from Ankara for consultations, and would meet with Macron to discuss the situation after Erdogan's blast.
"President Erdogan's comments are unacceptable. Excess and rudeness are not worthy. "We want Erdogan to change the course of his policy because it is dangerous in every aspect," the official told AFP.
The Elysee official, who asked not to be named, also said France had noticed a "lack of messages of condolence and support" from the Turkish president after the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty outside Paris.
The official also expressed concern about calls from Ankara to boycott French goods.
Macron this month described Islam as a "crisis" religion around the world, and said the government would introduce a bill in December to enforce a 1905 law that formally separated church and state in France.
He announced stricter school supervision and better control over foreign funding of mosques.
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