„TURBULENT RELATIONS”: THE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN FRANCE AND TURKEY AT THE TURN OF THE SECOND AND THIRD DECADES OF THE 21ST CENTURY Franco-Turkish relations have significantly escalated over the past decade in a consequence of a number of diplomatic incidents and a growing divergence of strategic interests, culminating in an information war against French interests and Ankara’s call for a boycott of French products. The personal exchange of „blows” between Emmanuel Macron and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have only intensified the collision course and geopolitical rivalry between Paris and Ankara in Syria, Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean. The aim of this article is to try to explain the causes and implications of the tensions in Franco-Turkish relations in the broader context of the geopolitical rivalry at the junction of the Middle East, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, between France (in its role as an established regional power) and Turkey (as an emerging, medium-sized regional power) – key NATO member states.