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After French President Emmanuel Macron said that Turkey was engaged in anti-French activities in Africa, the Foreign Ministry said it was an “unfortunate statement”.
Making a statement today, Ministry Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said, “It is unacceptable that French President Macron, who has difficulty in confronting his colonial past in Africa, especially in Algeria, tries to get rid of his colonial past by accusing other countries, including our country.”
During his visit to Algeria yesterday, Macron said, “There are networks in Turkey, Russia and China that have activism, neo-colonial and imperialist agendas and are hostile to France at hand. There is only one enemy, France. They all come together in this.”
Responding to Macron, Bilgiç said that Turkey is among the strategic partners of the African Union, and that it has developed its relations with African countries based on mutual trust and added:
“If France thinks that there are reactions against it on the African continent, it should look for the source of these reactions in its colonial past and its efforts to continue them with different methods, and try to correct it.
“To claim that these reactions are caused by the activities of third countries, instead of confronting and solving the problems of their own past, is not only to deny a sociological phenomenon and history, but also reflects the distorted mentality of some politicians.
“We hope that France will reach the maturity to face its colonial past without blaming other countries, including our country, as soon as possible.”
France has experienced various tensions with Turkey in Africa in recent years.
Chief among these was what happened during the conflict in Libya.
France tried to stop a ship going from Turkey to Libya to inspect it, but the Turkish navy accompanying the ship did not allow it.
France then complained about Turkey to NATO.
NATO, which examined the incident, shared its report with the country’s administrators even though it did not disclose it to the public, and France, dissatisfied with the report, withdrew from NATO’s Sea Guard exercise.
The tension between the two countries has also reached the level of the leaders, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “Macron needs a mental treatment.”