Turkey condemns Macron’s “false, populist” comments to Algeria – Middle East Monitor

Today, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sharply criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s “extremely wrong” and “populist” statements about Turkey and Algeria on colonialism.

Speaking at a news conference in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Cavusoglu said it was “extremely wrong” to drag Turkey, which has no black mark on its history, such as colonialism. it causes such controversy. “

Çavuşoğlu said that Algeria had already shown the “necessary reaction” to Macron’s remarks, adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and French President Macron had previously agreed to “speak directly” and not through the media.

“In that sense, we think such statements are wrong,” he said.

He noted that France was entering an “electoral atmosphere” on the eve of the 2022 presidential election, and said that “Macron is using this path for the elections.”

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“But we have seen in France and other countries that such cheap approaches do not help in the elections,” he said.

“Therefore, instead of such populist approaches, it would be better to take steps to gain the trust of its people.”

Tensions between France and Algeria have risen over Macron’s remarks on the North African country’s colonial past.

In order to soften the terrible colonial past, Macron pointed to the existence of the Ottoman Empire between 1514 and 1830, claiming that “there was a colonialism before French colonization” in Algeria.

“The establishment of Algeria as a nation is a phenomenon to be observed. Is there an Algerian nation before French colonization? This is the question,” Macron said. war of independence.