President Erdoğan congratulates Macron on election win

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 5 congratulated his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on his re-election and emphasized the importance of ties between Ankara and Paris for Europe.

The call addressed regional matters, the Russia-Ukraine war in particular, and steps that would enhance the Turkey-France relations, the Turkish presidency said.

Congratulating Macron on his re-election as the president of France, Erdoğan expressed his hope for the election results to yield auspicious outcomes for the country.

Erdoğan stated that the Turkey-France relations were of great importance in terms of the global role of the shared continent Europe.

Underscoring that Turkey had been doing everything in its power in order for the war in Ukraine to be brought to an end through diplomacy, Erdoğan said that it was important to support the negotiation process, the statement said.

Last year, Erdoğan and Macron have clashed over a range of issues, including the conflicts in Syria and Libya as well as the eastern Mediterranean. In February, the Turkish and French presidents exchanged letters in which they agreed to resume talks aimed at fixing ruined ties.

Ties between the two countries were severely strained in 2020 due to bilateral rows and regional conflicts from Syria to Libya and from Nagorno-Karabakh to the eastern Mediterranean.

In parallel with de-escalation in the eastern Mediterranean in early December 2020, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and French Foreign Minister Jean Yves le Drian decided to end this negative trend in ties and launch a road map for reconciliation.