France will try to sanction Turkey at the next European summit

At the height of the second wave of coronaviruses, tensions between France and Turkey are increasing more than expected. This escalation has been supported by the protests on the streets of Turkey after the accusations of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, towards his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, stating that "he has a serious problem with Islam".

The fight against Jihadist terrorism in France and President Macron's defence of the Muhammad cartoons as a sign of 'freedom of expression' do not meet with Erdogan's approval, as he has encouraged his population to carry out an economic boycott of France. 

This war of public accusations and economic measures has forced the French government to declare that it does not rule out promoting sanctions against Turkey at the next European Council in December. Both countries are thus positioning their confrontation policies, leaving the European Union and NATO in an uncomfortable position.

After the protests and the announcement of the economic boycott, the famous satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has published a cartoon about Erdogan that reads "Erdogan, in private, is a lot of fun". The magazine caricatured Erdogan on its cover with a vest and pants while he lifted the skirt of a woman covered in a habit.

This has infuriated Erdogan who has already announced that he will take "legal and diplomatic measures" against the French magazine Charlie Hebdo. "Our fight will continue until the end, in a healthy but determined way in the face of these malicious and insulting measures," the president said.

At the previous extraordinary European summit, the issue raised by Cyprus on whether or not to sanction Turkey was postponed, the commissioners did not want to open up this melon full of cross interests for the EU countries. 

It is important to remember that Turkey currently controls the migratory tap coming into Europe and also maintains and controls the gas and oil pipelines that provide heating to the northern countries of the Union.

The new summit will take place in December and now things have changed. Previously Cyprus and Greece were the main advocates of sanctions against the Ottoman country because of the illegal prospecting that Turkey is carrying out in the eastern Mediterranean, but now it seems that France will also join in. "We will promote strong European reaction measures, whose last tool is sanctions," the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, told the Senate.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, stressed that the December summit would serve to take stock of the situation, before which the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, indirectly requested an embargo on arms sales to that country. 

The French Secretary of State stressed that his country will maintain a reaction strategy at both national and European level and advanced that among the possible response instruments is also a review of French and European policy on loans to Turkey.
 

François Hollande has been the most daring one in criticizing and calling for sanctions against Turkey. The former French president has directly called on NATO to consider Turkey's presence in the Alliance following its president's "aggressive behaviour which is fuelling conflicts on Europe's doorstep".

In a statement to public radio France Info, Hollande attacked Erdogan's behaviour not only for criticising Macron, but also for his behaviour in Syria, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Libya or in his clash with Greece and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean. "At some point we will have to ask ourselves what France and Turkey are doing in the same alliance," the former French socialist leader says.

For Hollande, Erdogan's criticism of Macron can be understood as a provocation. Moreover, he believes that other NATO members do not have to accept "the aggressive behaviour of an ally just because the United States wants Ankara to stay in the Alliance".

A month ago, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg travelled to Turkey and Greece in an attempt to open a line of direct dialogue between governments and avoid direct confrontations between two Alliance member states. However, with recent developments, we will have to wait and see how Stoltenberg manages this Franco-Turkish enmity, which could make a big dent and cause critical divisions within the organisation.
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The Turkish President has confessed that he did not see the French cover but feels disappointed and "sad". 

"I do not need to say anything about these dishonourable people who insult my Prophet. My sadness and anger is not due to the atrocious attack against me, but the same medium is the source of the ordinariness towards the Prophet", he said in a speech to his party.

Already on Tuesday, Erdogan filed a complaint against the Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders for broadcasting a caricature of the Turkish leader showing him with a bomb on his head.

Erdogan's lawyer, Hüseyin Aydin, handed over the complaint of "insulting the president" to the Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office, requesting that Wilders be tried according to the Turkish criminal code, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported.

The Turkish authorities condemned the cartoon for "spreading racism and cultural hatred" and again accused the French weekly of "xenophobia and Islamophobia". Turkey has also criticised the use of the cartoons in the protests in France over the murder of French professor Samuel Paty in Paris. 
 

The tension between Ankara and Paris has been growing for months as their geopolitical interests clash in Libya, Syria, the eastern Mediterranean and, since last month, in the Caucasus. Many newspapers in various Muslim countries have been describing France as the main enemy of Islam for months, highlighting its colonial history.

For the time being, more international declarations are to be expected. Turkey and France have already put their cards on the table through an international media and judicial confrontation. Now they will have to see each other's faces within NATO while France will fight for the European Union to unite and draw up a list of sanctions against Erdogan.