Macron warns Turkey against election meddling, renewing row

President claims Turkish state media spread ‘lies’ about France last year and warns against playing on public opinion ahead of critical polls.

Emmanuel Macron has stepped up his rhetoric against Turkey once again, after a period of relatively calmer ties between Paris and Ankara, warning against any attempts to interfere in next year’s French presidential elections. Macron told France 5 television that he had noted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to improve relations, which have been battered by disputes over the conflicts on Libya, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh, and Turkish accusations of Islamophobia in France. But while Macron insisted that Europe would never turn its back on Turkey, he said that improving relations would be difficult unless Ankara’s behaviour changed.