Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, has a pre-election ritual that he sticks to: picking a fight with foreign governments. 

Ahead of a referendum to change Turkey’s constitution in 2017, Mr Erdogan accused Dutch and German ministers of being Nazis. He expelled Israel’s ambassador from Ankara a month before the 2018 presidential elections. 

And now, 11 days ahead of local elections in Turkey, he is feuding with Australia and New Zealand over the Christchurch massacre. 

Mr Erdogan has been playing footage of the killings at his election rallies and invoked the First World War battle of Gallipoli, where thousands of Australian and Kiwi troops were killed by Turkish forces. 

He warned…