The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in an escalation of the ongoing war of word between the two has stated that the french President, Emmanuel Macron is nothing but a problem to France according to France24.
He attacked Macron after Friday prayers in Istanbul adding that he hopes that France will get rid of Macron as soon as possible. The current development is a culmination of soar relations between the two countries’ different stances on the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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Last week, France called for sanctions against Turkey over its dispute with Greece in the East Mediterranean. The French Senate signed a resolution recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh on 25 November. The decision is not legally binding, but has a symbolic significance.
France24 quoted Erdoğan as saying: ‘France has lost its ‘mediator role’ in the Karabakh dispute. Why? You are a mediator but on the other side, you have passed a resolution in your parliament … about a region on which you are supposed to be a mediator. With Macron, France is passing through a very, very dangerous period. I hope that France will get rid of Macron trouble as soon as possible. Otherwise they will not be able to get rid of yellow vests.’
Speaking Further, Erdogan also recalled Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s remarks that France should concede its southern city of Marseille to Armenia if it is so keen on establishing a state.
‘I am making the same advice: if they are so keen, they should give Marseille to Armenians,’ Erdoğan said.’ It’s as simple as that.’
Turkey and France are also at loggerheads over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan populated by ethnic Armenians where fighting broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in September, until a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal was sealed last month.
France and Turkey are dividedly supporting Armenia and Azerbaijan with on the side of Armenia and Turkey a staunch ally of Azerbaijan. France has a sizable community of ethnically Armenian French citizens who emigrated to France at the start of the 20th century.
In 2019, France recognised the killings of Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as a genocide in to protests from Turkey.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK