France signals ‘sectoral sanctions’ against Turkey

* Photo: Clément Beaune. Photo: Les Echos.

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Clément Beaune, France's Secretary of State for European Affairs, was a guest at the program "Le Grand Rendez-vous" of Europe 1 and Echoes yesterday (November 15). The Secretary of State addressed a series of issues, including the current tension between Turkey and France. 

Referring to the possible sanctions to be imposed by the European Union (EU) against Turkey, Beaune has indicated that "sanctions in certain economic sectors" are "a possibility." Noting that "all options are on the table", he has said that they also include individual sanctions.

Beaune has stated that "France is not alone against Turkey" and reportedly added, "Today, no European country has more illusions about what Mr. [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan and his regime are. "

"We gave Turkey a chance at the last European summit, which gave small signs of appeasement," Beaune has added, accusing the country of "chosing the path of systematic provocation and aggression once again."

"For ten or fifteen years, we had thought that Turkey was a sympathetic Eastern Christian democracy with a modernization which would be done gradually", Beaune has said further. "It is not that. It is an aggressive Islamism culturally, geopolitically, in all fields," he has argued.

Is it only about the Eastern Mediterranean?

The tension between Turkey and France is not only about the Eastern Mediterranean. The two countries have different policies regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Libya crisis among many others.

CLICK - Foreign Minister of France warns Turkey of sanctions over Eastern Mediterranean

The process leading up to the current tense relations between the two countries can be briefly summarized as follows: 

Following the murder of history teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown Charlie Hebdo's caricatures of Prophet Mohammad to pupils in class about freedom of expression a few days before, the satirical magazine's cartoons of the Prophet were projected onto government buildings in France.

In a speech a few days later, President and AKP Chair Erdoğan condemned both the remarks of President of France Emmanuel Macron, who had said that "Islam was in crisis", and the projection of the cartoons to the government buildings. "What is the problem of this person called Macron with Islam and Muslims? Macron needs treatment on a mental level," Erdoğan said, adding that Macron "needed a mental check."

In response to this, France recalled its envoy in the capital city of Ankara to Paris for consultations. In a recent speech, President Erdoğan has also called on citizens "to not buy French products."

Shortly afterwards, Charlie Hebdo published a cartoon of President Erdoğan, which has been condemned by Turkey. Earlier yesterday (October 28), top state officials, including Vice President Fuat Oktay, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, and Ömer Çelik, the Spokesperson for the AKP, blasted the magazine. (PT/SD)