FRANCE’S MACRON SENDS LETTER TO TURKEY’S ERDOĞAN

Fri 15 January 2021:

French President Emmanuel Macron sent a letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stating his intent to improve bilateral relations, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced Friday.

According to Çavuşoğlu, who spoke to journalists on his return from an official visit to Pakistan, Macron underlined Turkey’s importance for Europe and his will to develop positive ties in the letter.

Çavuşoğlu pointed out that the two leaders could soon talk via videoconference or a phone call to discuss relations as well as regional issues, including the fight against terrorism, Libya and Syria.

Turkey’s top diplomat last week in a joint press conference with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva in Lisbon gave signals of warming ties and stated that Paris and Ankara have been working on a road map to normalize relations and that “it has been going well … If France is sincere, Turkey is ready to normalize ties with France as well.”

Turkey has repeatedly traded barbs with France over policies in Syria, Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in France.

The spat has risen to new levels in recent months as France has moved to crack down on some Muslim groups after several attacks on its soil.