France hinted Thursday at new sanctions against Turkey over what it called “declarations of violence” by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an escalating row between the two NATO allies over Islam, the Eastern Mediterranean, Syria, Libya and more recently the South Caucasus.
“There are now declarations of violence, even hatred, which are regularly posted by President Erdogan which are unacceptable,” France’s Foreign Minister Yves le Drian told Europe 1 radio in an interview. “It is not only France that is targeted, there is total Europe-wide solidarity on the subject — we want Turkey to renounce this logic,” he said.