Premier Mario Draghi's calling
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "dictator" was "total
rudeness, total rudeness," Erdogan told the Anadolu news agency
Wednesday, almost a week after Draghi made the remark.
Draghi called Erdogan a dictator in a press conference on
Thursday.
The Turkish government rapidly summoned the Italian ambassador
to Ankara to express its disapproval of the comments, which
Draghi made in relation to the 'sofagate' case regarding the
failure to provide a seat for European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting on Tuesday.
"I am really sorry about the humiliation that the commission
president had to suffer with these, let's call them for what
they are, dictators," Draghi said.
The Italian premier said the EU had to be frank with figures
like Erdogan, stressing the differences in outlook while at the
same time being ready to cooperate.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the comments
"ugly and unreasonable" and said they should be taken back.
The deputy leader of Erdogan's AKP party, Numan Kurtulmus, said
"there are no dictators in our country. If you want to see a
dictator, look to your own history. Look to Mussolini".
Draghi won backing from several quarters on Friday with
European People's Party (EPP) chief Manfred Weber among the
senior voices expressing support.
"Prime Minister Draghi is right, under President Erdogan's lead
Turkey has moved away from the rule of law, democracy and
fundamental freedoms in the last decade," Weber said in a
statement sent to Italian media.
Turkey, Weber said, "is not a free country for all its citizens.
"If Europe wants to build a constructive partnership with
countries like Turkey, and it is in our strategic interest to do
so, we ought to speak clearly and honestly about the actual
facts.
"This is also the reason why we have been asking the (EU)
Council for years to finally close the procedure of enlargement
of the EU to (include) Turkey. We are categorically against a
prospect of accession of Turkey to the EU and as long as it is
on the table it hinders a franker and more realistic
relationships with the country".
Turkey recently pulled out of the 2011 Istanbul Convention on
violence against women, dismaying activists who say gender
violence is on the rise there.
Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy
(FdI) party, said Draghi was spot on.
"Brothers of Italy has denounced the authoritarian, Islamist
direction Erdogan's Turkey has taken for years and asked the EU
to withdraw Ankara's status as a candidate country," said
Meloni, whose party is the only major group in parliament not to
back Draghi's broad coalition government.
"Premier Draghi's clear, firm words were good.
"We demand respect and we hope that the premier's comments are
just the government's first step in powerfully defending Italian
interests in the Mediterranean and stemming the political and
cultural expansionism of the Islamist regime in Ankara".
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