Turkey protests Greek ‘clown’ who tore up flag in Brussels

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday demanded the European Parliament take action against a Greek deputy who ripped up a paper Turkish flag, branding him a “racist” and a “clown”.

Independent MEP Ioannis Lagos had told the parliament on Wednesday that Turkey was to blame for illegal migration flows into Greece. “We have streams of migrants coming to my country. Here we have the Turkish flag,” he said, depicting a paper red flag featuring a white star and crescent.

“What can we do with this flag? You can tear it up,” Lagos said, before doing so and throwing it away. The flag is considered sacred to many Turks. Anakara’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu took to Twitter railing against the “racist” behaviour in the European Parliament.

“Europe’s spoiled and racist children should know their place. Europe must put an end to racism and animosity against Islam,” he said. “Nobody should doubt that our flag will continue to wave proudly forever! Expecting European Parliament to take necessary measures against this clown.”

The EU’s special rapporteur on Turkey, Nacho Sanchez Amor, who visited the country last week on his first trip in his official capacity, sought to ease tensions. “Turkey is an EU candidate country. Our relations are not at their best in this very moment,” he wrote on Twitter.