PARIS (dpa-AFX) - France's leader Emmanuel Macron has congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his victory even before the final results of Turkey's presidential election were announced "With President Erdogan, whom I congratulate on his re-election, we will continue to move forward," Macron wrote on Twitter Sunday evening. "France and Turkey have immense challenges to face together." Macron cited the return of peace to Europe, the future of the Euro-Atlantic alliance and the Mediterranean as keywords.

Erdogan had earlier declared himself the winner of the election before the count ended. According to the state news agency, after nearly 99 percent of the votes had been counted, he came in with 52 percent, while challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu had 48 percent. Opposition leader Kilicdaroglu indirectly conceded defeat. Around 61 million people were called to vote in Turkey. Eligible voters in Germany and other countries have already voted. Sunday also marked the anniversary of the anti-government Gezi protests of 2013./rbo/DP/zb