"Look Mr. Macron, I am calling to you from Turkey, but I will tell you again at NATO. First, have your own brain death checked," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Anadolu, slamming Macron over his remarks that Turkey should not expect NATO support for its anti-terror operation in northern Syria.
"Expelling or not expelling Turkey from NATO [...] Do you have the authority to make such a decision?" Erdogan added.
The comments came as Macron had said that “I respect the security interests of our Turkish ally ... but one can’t say that we are allies and demand solidarity, and on the other hand, present allies with a fait accompli by a military intervention which jeopardizes the action of the coalition against IS.”
Meanwhile, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Ambassador Ismail Hakki Musa was summoned Friday to explain “unacceptable statements ... that have no place in Turkish-French relations and cannot substitute for the necessary dialogue between the two countries,” according to the Associated Press.
The spat between Macron and Erdogan comes as other problems within NATO are expected to come to the fore during the organization’s next summit which is going to be held in London. US President Donald Trump has already attacked other members for not spending enough on defense sector and there are serious differences the alliance’s post-Cold War mission.
MNA/PR
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