Eurasia Press & News
Erdogan chooses provocation, says France should get rid of Macron.
Undeterred by prospects of sanctions from both the European Union and the US, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a vociferous attack on French President Emanuel Macron.
In Brussels, European Council chief Charles Michel said Friday that Turkey has not de-escalated its stand-off with Greece in response to diplomatic outreach and warned EU member states would now consider sanctions.
“I think that the cat and mouse game needs to end,” Michel said, referring to Turkey’s repeated incursions into Greek waters with gas exploration vessels.
“We will have a debate at the European summit on December 10 and we are ready to use the means at our disposal ” he said.
Next week’s EU summit will be held in Brussels, with the leaders meeting face-to-face after previous meetings were demoted to videoconferences as a coronavirus prevention measure.
Turkey has been challenging Greece over maritime territory in the Eastern Mediterranean, repeatedly sending a gas exploration vessel into Greek waters.
A German-led diplomatic outreach to Ankara has made little progress in resolving the underlying issues, and some EU members — notably France and Greece itself — are pushing for stronger action.
Other EU capitals are more cautious, some of them fearing that an escalating stand-off could see Erdogan’s government once again allow a wave of refugees to head for EU borders.
–Vitriolic words —
In defiance of the EU, Erdogan renewed his vitriolic attacks on French President Emmanuel Macron Friday, saying he hopes France will get rid of him soon.
Speaking after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Erdogan called Macron “trouble” for France, which he said was going through a dangerous time under his leadership.
“My wish is for France to get rid of the Macron trouble as soon as possible,” Erdogan said. Otherwise, he claimed, France would not be able to overcome the Yellow Vest protest movement against social injustice in the country.
Erdogan also said France has lost its credibility as an intermediary of the Minsk group, which was created in the 1990s to encourage peaceful resolution for the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. France has sided with Armenia in that conflict, and Turkey with Azerbaijan.
Erdogan’s harsh rhetoric comes amid a continued push by Paris against Turkish policies in the Eastern Mediterranean, Libya and the Caucasus.
Last month, Erdogan said Macron needed his head examined for defending caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
— US Congress takes action —
At the same time in Washington, US lawmakers included mandatory Turkish sanctions in a defence spending bill that moves Washington a step closer to punishing its NATO ally for buying Russian S-400 missile defences last year.
The final version of the $740 billion annual US defence spending legislation would require the White House to select from a list of sanctions over the S-400s, which Washington says are incompatible with NATO operations.
US President Donald Trump, whose term in office ends next month, has said he will veto the bill over separate provisions. But he may need some support in Congress and it would be the first such veto in nearly 60 years.
Russia delivered the ground-to-air S-400s last year and Turkey tested them as recently as October.
The threat of Western sanctions has weighed on Turkey’s currency the lira, which hit a series of record lows this year and weakened nearly 1% before recovering to 7.76 versus the dollar at 1019 GMT.
Sanctions could harm a Turkish economy already struggling with a coronavirus-induced slowdown, double-digit inflation and badly depleted foreign reserves.
Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is expected to be tougher on Turkey than Trump, who had warm ties with Erdogan despite growing hostility among US lawmakers towards Turkey’s more aggressive foreign policy.
The defence bill includes sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which are designed in part to deter cooperation with Russia. The US president would select from a list of mild to harsh possible sanctions.
The bill is the result of months of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats. Once the House and Senate vote on it as soon as early next week, Trump, a Republican, has 10 days to veto or it becomes law.
Last year, Washington suspended Turkey from its F-35 jet programme over the S-400s.
