Erdogan renews call for Macron to undergo mental checks

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Left) and French President Emmanuel Macron. PHOTO/AFP

What you need to know:

  • The debate over France's policies toward Muslims was given new impetus by the murder this month in France of a teacher who showed his class a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday renewed his call for his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to undergo mental checks, a day after his comments prompted Paris to recall its envoy to Ankara.

The Turkish leader accused Macron of being "obsessed with Erdogan day and night", in a televised speech in the eastern Anatolian city of Malatya. 

"(Macron) is a case and therefore he really needs to have (mental) checks," he said. 

Relations between Macron and Erdogan have become increasingly strained over a number of issues.

They include French support for Greece in its dispute with Turkey over maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean, and French criticism of Turkey's involvement in Libya, Syria and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Macron's policies to defend his country against radical Islam have angered Turkey, which is predominantly Muslim if officially a secular country.

The debate over France's policies toward Muslims was given new impetus by the murder this month in France of a teacher who showed his class a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed. 

On Sunday, Erdogan also took aim at Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders who shared a defamatory cartoon of the Turkish leader on Twitter. 

"Know your limits," said Erdogan. "Fascism is not in our book, fascism is in your book." 

Merkel condemns 'defamatory' Erdogan criticism of Macron

The German government on Monday called a series of attacks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against France's President Emmanuel Macron "defamatory" and "unacceptable" and expressed "solidarity" with Paris.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said she strongly condemned Erdogan's fiery remarks about Macron, who took a defiant stance after teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded for showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed to pupils in France in a lesson on free speech earlier this month.

"They are defamatory comments that are completely unacceptable, particularly against the backdrop of the horrific murder of the French teacher Samuel Paty by an Islamist fanatic," spokesman Steffen Seibert said.