French President Macron congratulates Turkey's Erdogan, urges calmer dialogue

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has congratulated Tayyip Erdogan after the Turkish president secured sweeping new executive powers in presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday, Macron's office said on Tuesday.


"The French president has congratulated

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

and wished the Turkish people success in the economic and social development of their country and in the democratic functioning of their institutions," an Elysee Palace source said.

Macron stressed the importance of a calmer dialogue between

Turkey

and the European Union, the source added.

Erdogan, 64, the most popular - yet divisive - leader in modern Turkish history, has been criticized for destroying the independence of the courts and press freedoms after a failed 2016 coup.