Gathered in Prague last week for the first meeting of the European Political Community, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron once again met together for a tour de table on the future of a Europe seriously affected by the war waged by Russia against Ukraine. But for Erdogan, it was time for a joke… miso sauce! The newspaper “Le Parisien” indeed reports in its edition of last October 7 that then in the middle of a press conference, the latter did not fail to be ironic about his difficult relations with the French head of state by launching: “Our wives get along well, we don’t”. Last November, Emine Erdogan’s entourage had already informed AFP that relations between the two women – regularly photographed together at international summits – were in good shape. Emine Erdogan, the wife of the Turkish president, 67, and the French First Lady Brigitte Macron, 69, indeed maintain more than cordial relations, despite the regular tensions between their husbands.
“Their character, habits and physique are different”
Recall that in 2014, Turkish Islamo-conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went to a summit on justice and women in Istanbul. In front of a mostly female crowd, the Head of State then declared that women could not be equal to men because they had a very specific place in society… that of motherhood! With remarks from another age, as the newspaper “Liberation” reported at the time: “Some people can understand it, others can’t. You can’t explain that to feminists because they don’t accept the very idea of motherhood,” he said. The Turkish president then assured that men and women could not be treated the same way: “It’s against human nature. Their character, their habits and their physique are different (…) you cannot equate a woman nursing her child and a man.” And to chain his most smoky theories, in particular as the fact that it was impossible to “ask a woman to do all the types of work that a man does, as was the case in communist regimes (… ) You can’t ask them to go out and dig the ground, it’s against their delicate nature.” Words that have earned him a flood of insults from around the world on social networks. But also many videos of women openly laughing at him… This Thursday, October 7, visibly in great shape, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also filmed throwing a bad joke at the French president, proposing France’s membership of the Organization of Turkic States (OET), which includes, in addition to Turkey, Turkic-speaking countries of Central Asia and Azerbaijan. “We will admit you if you want”, he sent to Emmanuel Macron… who in return gratified the Turkish head of state with a pat on the back. Above all, he insisted on Thursday with the latter on the need to fight against any “circumvention” of sanctions against Russia, in the context of the war in Ukraine. Let’s get back to serious business, Mr. Erdogan!
France Live
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