PARIS — NATO may be braindead but its leaders can still understand each other.

That was the gist of Emmanuel Macron's message on Thursday as he defended his controversial comments about the alliance while also trying to show he understood the concerns of Eastern European members and Turkey.

Eastern European NATO countries have been angered by Macron's insistence on reaching out to Russia and Ankara has hit out at his criticism of Turkey's military incursion into Syria. German leaders also took issue with Macron's NATO stance.

"I very deeply respect the preoccupations and the security interests of all our European partners, and I adopt them as entirely my own. I will always defend them as a priority, and I know what this represents for their history," Macron said at a press conference in Paris with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, ahead of an alliance summit in London next week.

Nevertheless, Macron stood by his diagnosis of NATO's problems and his desire for a détente with Russia, even as Stoltenberg made clear that he disagreed with the French president.

"I simply looked at our discussions of the past two years and at what's stake for us. And I saw a glaring and unacceptable disconnect" — French President Emmanuel Macron

"We are and will remain intransigent when our sovereignty or that of our partners is at play, but has the absence of dialogue with Russia made Europe safer? Is it in the interest of European stability not to discuss the question of frozen conflicts or to leave the question of Ukraine to get exacerbated? I don’t think so," Macron said.

Macron said NATO needs to better define its enemies and suggested neither Russia nor China should be on that list. The alliance's common enemy is terrorism, he said.

Stoltenberg subtly but unmistakably made clear that he has a different analysis from Macron when it comes to the threats faced by NATO and the ability of Europe to tackle them.

"NATO is the only platform where North America and Europe can address strategic issues together … like the fight against terrorism, or how to deal with a more assertive Russia and the rise of China," Stoltenberg said.

Negotiating with Russia

In defending his "brain death" remarks, made in an interview with the Economist, Macron also took issue with the focus of the alliance in recent years.

"I simply looked at our discussions of the past two years and at what's stake for us. And I saw a glaring and unacceptable disconnect," Macron told reporters, saying the most recent NATO summits had been devoted to how costs could be reduced for the U.S.

Macron said he wants NATO to refocus on big strategic questions at the London summit, including what allies should expect of each other and how NATO can ensure peace and security in Europe after the United States retreated from a series of landmark Cold War-era arms controls treaties.

Referring to the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty between the U.S. and Russia and the void created in Europe, Macron said the alliance "must start a conversation on arms control" because "it is our security that is in play."

Instead of getting drawn into a costly arms race, Macron argued, the alliance should engage Russia in a negotiation that would "better protect some European countries, like a country like Poland, which wasn’t protected by the INF treaty, and take into account all security interests, especially those who are at the border and closest to Russia."

Macron used that argument to justify why France has not rejected a Russian offer for a moratorium on the deployment of short and intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe. He insisted it was wiser to use that offer as a basis for the start of negotiations.

Turkey trouble

In London next week, Macron is expected to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and to take part in another meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel before the official start of the summit.

Macron repeatedly lambasted Turkey for its move, but appeared to soften his position a bit on Thursday.

Turkey, a NATO member, drew sharp criticism from France, as well as Germany and the U.K., after it launched a unilateral incursion into northeastern Syria against a Kurdish militia that the U.S., U.K. and France partnered with to fight ISIS.

Macron repeatedly lambasted Turkey for its move, but appeared to soften his position a bit on Thursday.

"I respect the security interests of our Turkish ally, who had to endure many terrorist attacks on its soil," he said, while also maintaining that the incursion had weakened the fight against ISIS.

Turkey immediately made clear it had not been mollified.

"[Macron] is already the sponsor of the terrorist organisation and constantly hosts them at the Elysee," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters, in reference to Macron meeting with representatives of Kurdish fighters.

Macron also defended saying that NATO is suffering from "brain death," declaring that he had given the alliance an important wake-up call.

This article has been updated.