Turkish ministers condemn Draghi's remarks on Erdoğan

Turkish ministers condemned on April 9 the Italian prime minister's remarks on the country's president.

"I condemn the low and unacceptable way of the appointed Italian Prime Minister [Mario Draghi] towards our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan," Treasury and Finance Minister Lütfi Elvan said on Twitter over the remarks of Draghi, calling Erdoğan a "dictator."

"I totally disagree with Erdoğan's behavior. I believe that it wasn't appropriate behavior. I was really sorry for the humiliation that [European Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen had to suffer," Draghi told a news conference on Thursday, referring to a seating issue at a top EU officials' meeting in Turkey.

"Here the consideration we have to make is that with these - let's call them what they are - dictators, who however we need to cooperate, is that we must be frank in expressing our diverging views, behavior and vision of society, but we also need to be ready to cooperate to ensure the interests of our country. We need to find the right balance," he added.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli also said that Draghi's remarks were unacceptable.

"We condemn Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who made baseless statements about the man of the nation, our president," Pakdemirli said.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu called the Italian premier's remarks "impudent."

Karaismailoğlu said Erdoğan is an elected leader and he is the one who brought the old world order and colonial mentality to light with the discourse of "the world is bigger than 5."

"I condemn the impudent statement of the Italian prime minister, who lacks manner and decency. If he is looking for a dictator, he should look at his history," Justice...