On Thursday, France condemned “declarations of violence and hatred” made by the Turkish President Recep Tayyeb Erdogan. Paris also raised the possibility of new sanctions against Ankara.
In an interview with “Europe 1 radio”, the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said, “There are now declarations of violence, even hatred, which are regularly posted by President Erdogan, which are unacceptable.”
France is currently pushing for a “strong” EU response to Turkey, including potential sanctions over “provocations” by President Erdogan.
The Turkish President has lashed out at French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days. This is following Macron’s response to the beheading of a teacher in France by an extremist over the use of cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed.
This latest flareup is just one incident in a series of bilateral clashes over issues including the conflict in Libya, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, and maritime borders in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey has sent between 3,500 and 3,800 Syrian mercenaries to Libya, in the first three months of the year. This is according to the US Defence Department’s Inspector General’s report, published in July. The quarterly report on counter-terrorism operations in Africa by the Pentagon’s internal watchdog, was the first to detail Turkish involvement in Libya’s war.
It said that Turkey paid and offered citizenship to thousands of mercenaries to fight against the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.