Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed French counterpart Emmanuel Macron over the latter’s controversial “brain dead” comment on Nato.

During a televised speech, Erdogan said, “I am talking to France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and I will also say this at Nato”.

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The comments drew a swift rebuke from the French foreign ministry, which summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Paris to protest over what a French presidential adviser called “insults”.

Erdogan was speaking days ahead of a summit of the military alliance, which Macron has said is experiencing “brain death” because of U.S. unpredictability under President Donald Trump and strained ties with Turkey.

The Turkish and French presidents, who have traded criticism over Ankara’s cross-border offensive in northeast Syria, will be among NATO leaders meeting at a summit of the transatlantic alliance in Britain on Dec. 4.

Earlier this month, while giving an interview to The Economist magazine, Macron made the “brain death comment”.

“What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of Nato,” Macron said in the interview.

His sharp criticism of Nato comes at a time when ties between members have come under considerable strain over budget allocation, Turkish military operations in Syria and Ankara’s growing proximity to Russia.

On Friday, French officials said they expected substantial clarifications from Erdogan rather than a war of words.

Turkey is refusing to back a NATO defence plan for the three Baltic states and Poland unless it secures more political support from its allies for its fight against Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria.

In a bid to mollify US President Donald Trump, ahead of the Nato summit on 4 December in London, alliance chief Stoltenberg said European countries and Canada would boost defence spending by 4.6 per cent in 2019.

Macron’s remarks on NATO drew a strong reaction from France’s neighbours who say Europe still has to rely heavily on the US-led alliance for its defence.
On Thursday, Macron said that his remarks had been a useful wake-up call and that he would not apologise for saying them.

(With inputs from agency)