Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu holds a joint press conference with the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs after their meeting in Ankara, Sept. 2, 2021. (AFP File Photo)
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu criticized French President Emmanuel Macron's recent remarks on Turkey and Algeria, as he slammed the French leader for adopting populist rhetoric ahead of elections.
"We have seen time and again that such cheap approaches do not benefit anyone in elections," Çavuşoğlu said in a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart in Ankara.
He continued by saying that it is extremely wrong for Macron to try to pull Turkey, which has no involvement in colonialism, into such debates.
Last week, Macron added more fuel to the fire through a series of controversial remarks over the political situation in Algiers, minimizing his country's role in brutal colonization of the country and attempts to rewrite history.
He accused the country of "disinformation" and "propaganda" that apparently worked for Algerians.
"I am fascinated to see Turkey's ability to make people completely forget the role it has played in Algeria and the domination it has exercised, and to explain that we are the only colonizers, that's great. Algerians believe in it," Macron quipped.
Throughout their 300 years of influence in Algeria, Ottoman Turks greatly shaped Algerian society and culture.
Following decades of French support for Armenian claims and recognition of 1915 events as "genocide," Turkey became more vocal about the French humanitarian record in history, accusing Paris of genocidal acts throughout its colonial rule.
Ankara and Paris are at odds over a number of issues, including Libya and Syria, French backing of initiatives targeting Turkey in the Mediterranean, active French support for Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration and Macron's policies that have received criticism as being Islamophobic.
