French President Emmanuel Macron reacts during a joint news conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov at Euxinograd residence, near Varna, Bulgaria, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Sunday with Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan about efforts to free a French journalist detained in the country, and the two leaders also discussed the Syrian crisis.

A statement from Macron’s office on Sunday said Macron had demanded the release and return to France of journalist Loup Bureau, who was seized by Turkish border guards on the frontier with Iraq in early August.

“The two presidents agreed to make further contact, and at the ministerial level as well, in order to arrive at a positive outcome,” the statement from the Elysee Palace said of the journalist’s plight.

They also discussed the situation in Syria, Iraq and the Gulf region as well as the battle against terrorism, with France working to create a specialist contact group to discuss Syria on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly.