Macron says he ‘regrets’ path Turkey is taking

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

AP photo

French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron on April 24 took aim at the course Turkey has taken under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Macron, the centrist candidate who faces far-right leader Marine Le Pen in France’s May 7 second round, said if elected he would ensure France protected “democrats in all countries.”

“I regret very deeply the route Turkey is taking, and I disapprove of it,” the former economy minister told reporters at an event in Paris commemorating the killing of Armenians in anatolia During World War I.

Turkey vehemently rejects the use of the term “genocide” to describe the mass killing of Armenians during the Ottoman era, arguing the episode was a collective tragedy in which both Turks and Armenians died.

France officially recognized the event as a “genocide” in 2001, a move that has soured relations with Ankara ever since.

The day after the April 16 referendum on expanding the president’s powers, Macron said there would be “no progress” in Turkey’s EU accession talks if he became French president.

He said the referendum marked “an authoritarian drift” by the Turkish authorities.