Members of the electoral commission count ballots after the French presidential election. Archival photoANKARA, April 30 The defeat of «extremists» in the elections in France is a victory for the whole world, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan believes. On April 24, the second round of presidential elections took place in France. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, competed for the presidency. According to the French Ministry of the Interior, after counting 100% of the ballots, Macron received 58.54% of the vote, Le Pen — 41.46%. «I consider the elimination of extremists in the elections in France and their defeat a victory for our whole world … On the other hand, it turned out that that Macron's opponents don't analyze France's sociological structure very well, in other words, their very strong display of hostility towards Islam, especially their extreme attitude towards the hijab and their practices towards Muslims, certainly brought Macron to the fore in the second round.» Erdogan told reporters on the plane upon his return from Saudi Arabia. According to Erdogan, shortly before the elections, he had a private meeting with Macron for about an hour on the sidelines of the NATO summit. «At that meeting, we talked about how we would plan Turkish-French relations on next period, what steps we will take. I hope that as a result of these elections, relations between us will become much better,» the Turkish leader said.
Erdogan said he is in constant contact with Putin
