Macron accuses Turkey of adopting an “aggressive” approach towards its NATO partners and denounces its behavior in Syria, Libya and the Mediterranean

French President Emmanuel Macron accused his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of adopting an “aggressive” stance toward his NATO partners, considering that tensions may subside if Erdogan shows respect and stops spreading lies.

“Turkey has an aggressive attitude towards its NATO allies,” Macron said in an interview with al Jazeera, denouncing Turkey’s behavior in Syria, Libya and the Mediterranean.

Macron hoped that things would “calm down”, but in order for this to happen it is necessary that “the Turkish president respects France and respects the European Union and their values, and does not tell lies and not utter insults”.

He noted that France offered condolences to Turkey after the devastating earthquake that struck Izmir, and had also offered to send aid.

Macron described Turkey’s intervention in Syria as “aggression” against its NATO partners, saying that Ankara did not respect the arms embargo in Libya while it showed “extremely aggressive” behavior in the eastern Mediterranean.

He added, “Turkey has imperialist tendencies in the region, and I think that these tendencies are not a good thing for its stability, that is the matter”.

For weeks, the relationship between Turkey and France witnessed tensions, which culminated last weekend when Erdogan questioned Macron’s mental health.

France responded by taking the unusual step of summoning its ambassador in Ankara for consultations.

But Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Saturday that France would return its ambassador to Ankara after a week’s absence.

Le Drian told RTL that Turkey had made a “deliberate choice to exploit” the beheading of a French teacher who showed his students caricatures of the Islam Prophet Muhammad, accusing Ankara of launching a “hate and defamation campaign against us”.

But he added that Turkey’s condemnation of a knife attack in a church in Nice this week was “different, clear and unambiguous, but this does not prevent Ankara from providing explanations”.

He added, “We asked our ambassador to return to Ankara tomorrow to follow up this request for clarification and explanation with the Turkish authorities”.

On the other hand, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced on Saturday that Paris will return its ambassador to Turkey to Ankara on Sunday to obtain “clarifications”, a week after he was summoned after verbal attacks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that targeted his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

After a Chechen extremist assassinated a teacher in France, he showed his students caricatures of the Islam Prophet Muhammad as part of a class on freedom of expression, “Turkey made a deliberate choice to exploit this attack and launch a hate propaganda campaign and slander us,” Le Drian said.

But he added that Turkey’s subsequent condemnation of a knife attack inside a church in the French city of Nice this week was “different, clear and unequivocal. 

However, this does not prevent Ankara from providing explanations”.

The French Foreign Minister added, “We have asked our ambassador to return to Ankara tomorrow to follow up on this request for clarification and explanation with the Turkish authorities” regarding “recent disgraceful statements,” but also regarding “Ankara’s destabilizing work for several months in Libya, in the eastern Mediterranean, and in the Nagorno-Karabakh region”.

“All this requires strong clarifications, which the European Union itself requested… we cannot remain in an atmosphere of misunderstanding and disgraceful statements,” said Le Drian.

These statements came hours after Macron accused Erdogan on Saturday of adopting an “aggressive” stance towards his NATO partners, considering that tensions may subside if Erdogan shows respect and stops making lies.