ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said France was being led by an "incapable" president as he stepped up his personal feud with Emmanuel Macron. Erdogan and Macron have traded insults for months after finding themselves on opposite sides of conflicts ranging from Libya and parts of the Middle East to Turkey's maritime dispute with Greece.

Macron enraged Ankara last week by suggesting that Turkey "deserved something else" to the way Erdogan's government was approaching foreign affairs. The European Union will next week discuss sanctioning Turkey for sending its energy exploration vessels and warships into eastern Mediterranean waters claimed by Cyprus and Greece. Erdogan told a virtual meeting of his ruling AK Party that Macron's logic blaming Turkey for regional problems did not work.