Erdogan’s anger was sparked by the statements of the French president last week, who described Islam as a religion in worldwide “crisis” and announced his government’s introduction of a bill in December to strengthen the 1905 Law on Separation of Church and State in France, as well as improving control of foreign funding for the country’s mosques and Islamic schools, iefimerida reports.
“Macron’s statement that ‘Islam is in crisis’ is an open provocation and a sign of arrogance,” Erdoğan said on television. He continued: “Who are you to talk about the structure of Islam?” Erdoğan said, accusing his French counterpart of “rudeness”.
Macron and Erdoğan are already openly opposed to maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean, to Libya and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict to Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Where we agreed on dialogue and improved relations about a week or ten days ago, look at how quickly he forgot everything,” Erdoğan said, urging Macron to “be more careful when talking about issues he ignores.”
“We expect him to act as a responsible head of state rather than as a colonial governor,” the Turkish president said.
