The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has accused Western governments of trying to influence the May elections with measures such as the closure of consulates and warned that, if they persist in this type of gesture, «they will pay a high price», which he did not want to clarify.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has already summoned this week the ambassadors of the countries which had paralyzed their consulates in Istanbul, in anticipation of an escalation of tensions deriving from the burning of copies of the Koran in protests.
Erdogan has explained that, in this first contact with ambassadors, –among them those of the United States, France and Germany–, Ankara gave an «ultimatum». «We have a government meeting on Monday and we will take the necessary decisions,» he said during an event in the region of Aydin, in the west of the country.
Erdogan, who feels he is the victim of «despicable campaigns», has claimed that foreign politicians and media are working to influence the May elections, in which the president will seek a new mandate. Within this alleged interference he frames incidents such as the burning of the Koran in Sweden, «which is supported under the excuse of freedom of expression».
The Turkish president has affirmed that, in the West, there is an interest in creating a false sense of insecurity in Turkey that may end up affecting the tourism sector, key to the national economy, according to the official Anatolia news agency.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
