France raises Armenia issue ahead of EU decision on Turkey
EUbusiness
14/12/2004
Days ahead of a crucial EU decision on Turkish accession talks, Paris
has raised the highly sensitive issue of the Armenian “tragedy” — an
indication of the sharp divisions of opinion in France over Ankara’s
membership bid.
At a summit in Brussels this week heads of government from the 25
member states are to give a green light for the opening of membership
negotiations, probably some time next year, while at the same time
warning the process could take more than a decade.
On Monday French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier risked angering
Ankara when he unexpectedly announced France would ask it to
“recognise the Armenian tragedy of the start of the (last) century
… Turkey must carry out this task as a memorial.”
Asked Tuesday whether this amounted to a pre-condition for opening
talks on EU membership, Barnier this was legally not possible, but he
said it was “a question that we will raise in the course of
negotiations, and we have around 10 years to raise it.”
An estimated 1.5 million Armenians are believed to have died between
1915 and 1917 in the last years of the Ottoman empire, an episode
referred to by Armenians as their “genocide”. But the government in
Ankara disputes the scale and nature of the killing.
In France, which has a large Armenian community, the “genocide” has
become a highly politicised subject. In 2001 the then
Socialist-dominated National Assembly voted to recognise that
“genocide” had occurred — prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador.
Barnier’s decision to raise the Armenia issue was being interpreted
Tuesday as a bid to reassure a French public that remains by a clear
majority hostile to Ankara’s application to join the European Union.
While President Jacques Chirac has publicly stated his support for
Turkey’s eventual membership, he is opposed by a majority of his own
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) as well as many in the opposition
Socialists. A recent poll showed that 56 percent of the public is
against Turkish membership, compared to only 38 percent in favour.
Promising to ensure that the Armenian “tragedy” is tabled during entry
negotiations is a way of signalling to the French public that the
government has not forgotten their concerns, commentators said.
Chirac is known to be worried that the prospect of Turkish admission
could sour French attitudes to the EU just ahead of a promised
referendum next year on the union’s proposed constitution, possibly
even leading to its rejection.
To reassure voters, the president has already undertaken to change the
country’s constitution so that all future applications to the EU —
including Turkey’s — would have to be approved by a national
referendum in France.
He and Barnier have also said that talks with Turkey may result in a
“privileged partnership” rather than full-scale membership — though
they insists this is France’s desired objective.