MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2020) �French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has discussed Paris-Ankara relations and obstacles in bilateral dialogue between Turkey and the European Union with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, the French Foreign Ministry said.
The foreign office said in a statement published late on Tuesday that the ministers had held talks by telephone.
"This conversation made it possible to tackle the various subjects linked to the bilateral relationship and Turkey's relationship with the European Union following the events of the past few weeks," the ministry's statement read.
Le Drian stressed that Paris and Brussels were awaiting clarifications on these events from Ankara, including an offensive comment of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. The ministry added that it was a condition to restore a "constructive relationship between Turkey and the European Union" on the eve of the European Council meeting from December 10-11.
Last week the Turkish leader said that France should get rid of the "burden of Macron" as soon as possible, but it was not the first manifestation of tensions between two politicians. In October, Erdogan said that the French President had "mental issues," after the latter pledged to combat radical Islamism in France following a brutal murder of a French teacher by a radicalized teen.
Besides, France and Turkey take opposite sides in several other geopolitical issues, including the Eastern Mediterranean tensions and the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and Libya.
