Paris vs. Ankara, new French campaign over evil Erdogan’s Ottomanism

Ahmed Samy Abdel Fattah

Relations between France and Turkey are becoming more complicated, especially in light of the argument that took place between foreign ministers of both countries, as France criticized the deterioration in human rights in Turkey.

A report by Al-Arab newspaper, entitled “France leads tough European campaign against Turkey”, shed the light on disagreements between Turkey and France as well as the ongoing controversy on the Armenian crisis in Turkey.

France insists on recognizing the Turkish massacre of Armenians and the genocide of more than a million people during World War I.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) strongly seek to prevent international recognition of their ancestral massacres against the Armenians, a genocide that occurred between 1915 and 1920. But Erdogan’s regime seems to have failed to manage this file, among other files.

The report also stressed that France is leading a major campaign in order to change the European Union’s foreign policy towards Turkey, considering that the latter practiced a systematic blackmail against Europe about controlling the refugee crisis.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday accused Emmanuel Macron of overstepping his bounds after the French leader denounced the erosion of the rule of law under Erdogan.

Macron also criticized the Erdogan’s government’s human rights record during a speech to the Council of Europe, saying that the “decline of the rule of law” in Turkey “had to be the subject of all our vigilance”.

“Mr Macron’s attack on Turkey is a step too far,” Mr Cavusoglu told the state-run news agency Anadolu.

“He reminds me of a rooster crowing while its feet are covered in dirt,” Ankara’s diplomacy chief continued.

France is trying, according to international observers, according to a report published by the Turkish newspaper Ahval, to formulate a new European policy that limits the ability of Turkey to use its citizens in European countries as lobbyists, especially Germany, where about four million Turkish citizens reside.

It is worth mentioning that France has escalated tension with Turkey several times because of the apparent Turkish threats to Europe regarding the refugees file to pressure it into supporting its policies in many places like Adlib, and the gas file in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey is well aware of the worsening internal situation in Europe, especially with the rise of the extreme right, which means that the further refugee crisis that Turkey may cause, may lead to more spread by the far right.

On the other hand, Turkish-Russian relations play a very important role in the aggravation of French-Turkish relations; France believes that the Turkish rapprochement, especially in the field of military industries, is a danger to Europe; Russia has offered to help Turkey find and extract gas in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In an interview with The Reference, researcher Mohamed Hamed has said Turkey will not be concerned with the French threats, because it things that a European decision is not only declared in France, but also affects other countries such as Germany and Italy.

Hamed has further added in an interview with The Reference that Mediterranean countries are considered the most affected by the refuges crisis, which means that these countries will go the extra mile to convince Turkey of the necessity of keeping the deal with the European Union in 2016.

Turkey is stepping up its rhetoric against France as a way to convince the public that it is fighting foreign wars with several parties, which contributes to increasing the popularity of the ruling party.