While Jacinda Ardern has tried to tone down a diplomatic stoush with Turkey over the Christchurch attacks, Australia's Prime Minister has only escalated it.
Scott Morrison says he's deeply offended by comments from Turkey's President, who said those who threaten Turkey would be sent home in coffins as the Anzacs were.
Morrison's demanding he withdraw the comment and summoned the Turkish ambassador to explain.
- Turkish president used Christchurch shooting footage as a campaign prop
- Turkey President alludes to Gallipoli, threatens to put opponents 'in caskets'
- Winston Peters says Turkish President is putting New Zealanders at risk
For a second day in Turkey, the massacre in Christchurch has been used as a political rallying cry.
Played on screen was Australian Senator Fraser Anning, who blamed Muslim immigration for the Christchurch attacks - and was famously egged for it.
And on stage, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pressured New Zealand to punish the accused.
"If New Zealand fails to hold the attacker accountable, one way or another we will hold him to account," he said.
But it's his comments about the Anzacs that have caused an uproar, fuelling an escalating diplomatic dispute.
Yesterday at a rally commemorating Gallipoli Erdogan appeared to issue a threat.
He referenced the death of Anzac soldiers and said those who come to Turkey with intentions like the gunman will be sent home like their grandfathers in caskets.
His comments drew fury in Australia.
"They insult the memory of our Anzacs and they violate the pledge that is edged in the stone of Gallipoli," Morrison said.
In Canberra on Wednesday, the Turkish ambassador was summoned by the Prime Minister to explain.
Erdogan is in the midst of campaigning for re-election, but Australia's Prime Minister says that's no excuse.
"I do not accept the excuses offered by the Ambassador," Morrison says.
But Erdogan has one message for his domestic audience and another on the global stage. In the Washington Post, he praised New Zealand, saying Western leaders could learn to embrace Muslims living in their respective countries from the courage, leadership and sincerity of Jacinda Ardern.
Anger in Turkey is stoked by the news the alleged Australian gunman visited there twice, and the fact his rambling manifesto threatened the country and President Erdogan himself.
An attack on Christchurch is now being felt across the world and giving rise to a diplomatic standoff that's escalated today.
Newshub.
