Ankara slams Macron’s anti-Türkiye remarks

ANKARA

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has slammed French President Emmanuel Macron for accusing Türkiye of establishing networks to carry out an anti-French campaign in Africa along with Russia and China.

“It is extremely unfortunate that French President Emmanuel Macron made statements targeting Türkiye, along with some other countries, during his visit to Algeria. It is unacceptable that French President Macron, who has difficulties in confronting his colonial past in Africa, especially in Algeria, tries to get rid of his colonial past by accusing other countries, including Türkiye,” read the statement issued by the ministry over the weekend.

Macron, who was in Algeria to mend France’s broken ties with its former colony, accused China, Russia and Türkiye of establishing propaganda networks against the French presence in the African continent. France, a colonial power in most of Africa in the past century, is competing against the growing presence of Türkiye, Russia and China in the continent and making such allegations against these nations.

“Türkiye, which encourages friendship, not hostility, and is among the strategic partners of the African Union, develops day by day its relations with both Algeria and other countries of the African continent, and these relations based on mutual trust and win-win principle are progressing in a manner that respects the will of the countries themselves,” the ministry said.

“If France supposes that there are reactions against it in the African continent, it should search for the source of these reactions in its colonial past and its efforts to still pursue this with different methods, and it must try to repair it,” the statement noted.

“We hope France will reach as soon as possible the maturity to face its colonial past without blaming other countries, including Türkiye,” it added.