Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls Le Pen's defeat in the French election a 'win'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday (April 30) praised his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron for his victory in the election in Paris.

He told Hurriyet daily that "To put it correctly, the elimination and defeat of extremist ends in French elections is, in my opinion, a win because whatever we suffer is because of extremism."

According to Erdogan, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen's defeat in the French election was a ''win''.

"God willing, with the result of this election, our relations will be in a much better position," he added.

Macron had defeated Le Pen and achieved a historic score of 41.5 percent in the second round of the French presidential election.

Erdogan is in Saudi Arabia on a two-day visit, Erdogan met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"I believe my visit will herald a new era in the ties between our two countries. We have demonstrated our common will to enhance ties," he said.

"We agreed with Saudi Arabia to reactivate a great economic potential through organisations that will bring our investors together."

"We announced that we, as Turkey, would support them in their bid to host EXPO 2030 in Riyadh," he added.

Erdogan and Macron have been at loggerheads with head other after the former criticised the French president's crackdown on Islamist extremism and called him "trouble for France."

Macron had slammed Erdogan due to Turkey's aggressive stance and tensions in the eastern Mediterranean and the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.

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(With inputs from agencies)