Turkey says talks with France to normalize ties going well

Turkey and France are working on a roadmap to normalize ties and talks are going well, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, adding Ankara was ready to improve ties with its NATO ally if Paris showed the same willingness.

Turkey has repeatedly traded barbs with France over policies in Syria, Libya, the eastern Mediterranean and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as over the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in France. Paris has led a push for EU sanctions on Turkey.

Speaking alongside his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva in Lisbon, Cavusoglu said the current tensions between the NATO allies stemmed from Paris "categorically" opposing Turkey since Turkey's 2019 offensive into northeast Syria against the Syrian Kurdish YPG.

"Turkey is not categorically against France, but France has been against Turkey categorically since...