Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has a strong will power that other European leaders don't have, said Gilles Martin-Chauffier, editor-in-chief of Paris Match magazine.
“They see President Erdoğan as an authoritarian. There are two reasons for this; first the level of European politicians. They see Putin and Erdoğan like this because they [the European politicians] have come from a lower level,” he explained.
“If you have a stronger stance than others, they can be uneasy with this,” Chauffier added.
He continued to clarify: “But the reality is, President Erdoğan has increased his popularity from the very beginning of his political life so far. He achieved this through the democratic way, the free will of people, and the elections. But this doesn't serve their [Europeans'] purposes, because he represents Islam and Muslims. In the Europeans' mind, it is impossible to run Islam and Democracy together. According to them, becoming a 'Muslim democrat' is impossible. The Christian democrat can be a suitable term, but 'Muslim democrat' terminology in Turkey cannot be accepted. They think these terms are contradictory to each other.”
Chauffier said Europe thinks that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is the only leader of Turkey who can be a modern leader.
“You know that secularism in France is a supreme thing. They worship two things; Jesus Christ and Secularism. Both are the holiest for the French. Both terms have the same value to them. They are equivalent to each other for the French people. So they think that AK Party and Secularism are incongruous to each other.”
He continued that Europe has praised Erdoğan for his economic, political and military reforms in his very first years of rules.
“But black propaganda had been launched against him when France started anti-Daesh operation. That was a very bad perception operation. They tried to show Erdoğan as a supporter of Daesh,” according to Chauffier.
But the French journalist noted that the black propaganda increased Erdoğan's support inside Turkey and showed that he was on the right path.
He related that most of the French don't know what the PKK is. “They think that PKK is an effective power against Daesh.”
Chauffier also noted that Turkey had not carried out enough fighting against this kind of perception operation.
“Not only PKK and Daesh, but the FETÖ terrorist organization and July 15 coup plotters have been conducting the same perception operation in France against the current government and president Erdoğan,” he added.
