French President Emmanuel Macron announced on June 10th that he would meet with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "just before" the NATO summit, which will begin in Brussels on Monday, June 14. Macron stated that despite the differences of opinion with Erdoğan, it is necessary to put the relations between the allies in a clear framework in NATO.
#dokuz8/Dr. Selmin Seda Coşkun
Emmanuel Macron, more broadly, called for NATO "strategic restructuring" and "to create a clear framework for relations between allies" pointing into "unresolved inconsistencies”. “Since we are members of the same organization, we cannot decide to purchase equipment that will compromise our interoperability and to conduct unilateral operations against the interests of the coalitions we have formed,” Macron said, stating that he expects an explanation from Turkey on the issue. According to Macron, who made assessments that “NATO's brain is dead" 18 months ago, the NATO summit should focus on security issues in the European continent in the context of uncertainties regarding the sustainability of the institution.
TENSION BETWEEN FRANCE AND TURKEY
Pointing out that Turkey and France, both of which are part of NATO, maintain tense relations on a number of issues within the Atlantic Alliance, Macron stated that despite the differences of opinion with Erdogan, it is necessary to put the relations between allies in a clear framework in NATO. The two countries had shown mutual hostility on a number of issues that became evident in the Eastern Mediterranean in June 2020, especially with France's support of Athens in response to Ankara's policy in the Mediterranean. Relations between the two countries were not limited to the Eastern Mediterranean issue, but had deteriorated sharply due to the conflict between Syria, Libya and more recently Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. Last October, in addition, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had questioned the "mental health" of his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and accused him of leading a "hate campaign" against Islam. In all this network of tense relations, the Macron-Erdoğan meeting will take place before the NATO summit. According to the French presidential delegation, it was informed that the meeting will be held on Monday afternoon, shortly before the start of the summit, without specifying the exact time of the meeting.
