During his meeting with Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi expressed his opposition to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's actions, labeling him a tyrant.

When Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was asked about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's stance during his meeting with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: 

I do not agree with President Erdogan’s positions under no circumstances. I do not think it was not appropriate behavior, and I was very saddened by the humiliation that Commission President von der Leyen had to suffer.

We must say that with these dictators —let us name them what they are— with whom one nonetheless has to cooperate, one has to be frank: expressing our disagreement, in terms of views, attitudes, our views in terms of society, but at the same time to be ready to cooperate, aiming at the interest of our country. That’s important, we have to strike the right balance.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt avuşolu said Ankara strongly denounced the “offensive” remarks made by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of humiliating European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during their meeting in Ankara on April 7 and referred to him as a “dictator.”

Following Draghi's remarks, Turkey summoned Italy's ambassador to the country to the Foreign Ministry, according to Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu.

“We firmly condemn the named Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi's inappropriate populist rhetoric and his insulting and uncontrollable remarks regarding our elected president,” the Turkish foreign minister wrote on Twitter.