Turkish Foreign Ministry summons Greek ambassador over offensive headline

Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned Greece’s ambassador to lodge a formal complaint over a Greek newspaper’s offensive language against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The envoy was summoned to answer for a “despicable headline,” Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying.

The controversial headline – telling “Mr. Erdogan” to “f**k off” in Turkish, with the insult translated into English with an asterisk below – appeared in Friday’s issue of the Dimokratia newspaper.

The headline also prompted a reaction from the Greek Foreign Ministry, which said in an announcement that freedom of the press “does not negate the obligation to refrain from insulting the personality of any individual, particularly a foreign leader.”

“The use of offensive language is contrary to our country’s political culture and can only be condemned,” the ministry added.