Emmanuel Macron wants to “move forward” with Erdogan after a long quarrel – Le Figaro

The French and Turkish presidents met in Brussels, and agreed on humanitarian actions in Ukraine. After a long period of tension between Paris and Ankara, Emmanuel Macron hopes “to be able to move forward” with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom he spoke Thursday March 24 in Brussels, where they agreed on humanitarian actions in Ukraine . Read alsoTurkey accuses Macron of “populism” after comments on Algeria During a meeting before the NATO summit, the two heads of state recorded their “willingness” to “work together” for to plead, with Vladimir Putin, “for a ceasefire” in Ukraine, declared Emmanuel Macron in front of the press. “Joint humanitarian operations” decided They have also decided to carry out “joint humanitarian operations”, in particular in Mariupol, a city in eastern Ukraine subjected to a siege and devastating bombardments for weeks by the Russian army. Each on their side, the two presidents have taken initiatives to seek a diplomatic solution to the war, Recep Tayyip Erdogan having offered to host a summit in Turkey bringing together Ukraine and Russia. According to the French president, the situation created by the Ukrainian crisis is an opportunity for a “strategic clarification” of “Turkey’s part in our relationship” within NATO, and on the issues “of Libya or of the Near and Middle East”. It is a question of “being able to move forward on many files which sometimes had separated us”, which is “a positive element in a heavy context”. Read alsoEmmanuel Macron speaks with Erdogan before the NATO summit This meeting took place when Paris and Ankara have been seeking for more than a year to improve the bilateral relationship, affected by a series of disputes over the eastern Mediterranean, where an incident opposed Turkish and French buildings in June 2020, Libya or Syria. In October 2020, Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned Emmanuel Macron’s “mental health” and accused him of leading a “hate campaign” against Islam. SEE ALSO – “We are entering an unprecedented food crisis”, warns Emmanuel Macron