Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that France President Emmanuel Macron’s warning that NATO was dying reflects a “sick and shallow” understanding, telling the French president “you should check whether you are brain dead”, reports Ndtv.

The comments drew a swift rebuke from the French foreign ministry, which summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Paris to protest over what a French presidential adviser called “insults”.

Erdogan was speaking days ahead of a summit of NATO will be held in Britain on December 4.

Erdogan said that Macron is experiencing “brain death” because of US unpredictability under US President Donald Trump and strained ties with Turkey.

The Turkish and French presidents, who have traded criticism over Ankara’s cross-border offensive in northeast Syria, will meet at NATO leaders meeting.