Turkish ruling party accuses Macron of ‘colonialist games’
A spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan’s ruling Justice and Development Party on Thursday dismissed calls by France’s Emmanuel Macron for the European Union to take a common position on Turkey as “colonialist games.”
“Macron persists with colonialism, while our president continues to defend the interests of the oppressed peoples, protect the peace and frustrate the colonialists’ games,” AKP spokesman Omer Celik said in a series of Tweets on Thursday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
“Turkey is no longer a partner in this region,” Macron told reporters on Thursday ahead of an emergency summit in Corsica of European Union countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. “We Europeans need to be clear and firm” with the Turkish government about its “inadmissible behavior,” the Associated Press quoted Macron as saying.
Macron added that Turkey had “intensified provocations in a way that is not worthy of a great state. The Turkish people are a great people and deserve something else,” according to Agence-France Presse.
“This is an old and immoral game of the colonialists. They offered a false show of love to exploit the people, but targeted patriotic leaders,” Anadolu quoted Celik as saying in response to Macron’s comment.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has also described Macron’s comments as “arrogant” and a sign “of his own weakness and despair.” [Combined reports]
