Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi expressed opposition to the behavior of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his meeting with Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, calling the Turkish president a dictator.
Asked at a press conference about the stance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his meeting with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian prime minister said:
“I do not agree with President Erdogan’s positions under no circumstances. I do not think it was not appropriate behavior, and I was very saddened by the humiliation that Commission President von der Leyen had to suffer.
We must say that with these dictators —let us name them what they are— with whom one nonetheless has to cooperate, one has to be frank: expressing our disagreement, in terms of views, attitudes, our views in terms of society, but at the same time to be ready to cooperate, aiming at the interest of our country. That’s important, we have to strike the right balance.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Ankara strongly condemned the “offensive” comments made by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of humiliating European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the meeting they had in Ankara on April 7 and called him “dictator.”
Turkey summoned Italy’s ambassador to the country to Foreign Ministry yesterday, following Draghi’s statements, Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
“We strongly condemn the unacceptable populist rhetoric of the appointed Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and his offensive and uncontrollable comments about our elected president,” the Turkish foreign minister said in a Twitter post.
Source: ANA-MPA
Atanmış İtalya Başbakanı Draghi’nin kabul edilemez popülist söylemini ve seçimle göreve gelmiş Cumhurbaşkanımız hakkındaki çirkin ve hadsiz ifadelerini kuvvetle kınıyor, kendisine iade ediyoruz.
— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) April 8, 2021