Financial Times (London, England)
December 15, 2004 Wednesday
London Edition 1

Chirac to defend his backing for Turkey’s talks with EU

By JOHN THORNHILL

PARIS

Jacques Chirac will tonight give a rare television interview to
explain why he favours opening accession talks with Turkey while the
majority of his compatriots oppose the idea.

The French president will have to be at his persuasive best, just two
days before European Union leaders are expected to approve a European
Commission recommendation to start entry talks with Turkey.

An opinion poll published by Le Figaro newspaper this week showed 67
per cent of French voters opposed Turkey’s entry, making France the
most sceptical of the EU’s big countries. Resistance runs even higher
among Mr Chirac’s own party, with 71 per cent of UMP supporters
against Turkish membership.

There are several reasons why Turkey’s admission inflames such debate
in France, ranging from esoteric arguments about the dilution of the
EU’s essence to scarcely veiled Islamophobia on the extreme right.

Many MPs are also angry that Mr Chirac has not allowed them more of a
say on such an important issue. The government allowed a
parliamentary debate in October on Turkey but did not subject itself
to a binding vote.

Sylvie Goulard, a political science professor, says that if Turkey
were admitted to the EU – becoming its biggest and poorest member
state – it would kill the dream of Europe’s founders of an ever
deeper and closer union. The French government’s failure to initiate
a proper debate on this issue has created a public backlash.

“If you want to change the whole European project then you have to
take into account the views of the people,” she says. “But they have
refused until now to talk to the public and that is why they are in a
mess.”

France’s Armenian population, estimated at about 300,000, has also
been influential, highlighting Turkey’s refusal to accept
responsibility for the Armenian genocide of 1915 and Ankara’s poor
human rights record.

The French government has scrambled to mollify public opinion by
insisting that the future is not pre-ordained, that Turkey’s possible
admission is more than a decade away, and that voters will be given
their say on Turkey’s membership in a referendum. French diplomats
have also been exploring the possibility of offering Ankara a
“privileged partnership” with the EU.

Moreover, Michel Barnier, the French foreign minister, has this week
attempted to parry criticisms from the Armenian community by urging
Ankara to face up to its past.

Opinion polls show that many French voters could be persuaded to
change their minds on Turkey’s membership if Ankara fulfilled its
promises to reform over the next decade.

Even Harout Mardirossian, president of the Committee for the Defence
of the Armenian Cause, says it is possible to imagine a thoroughly
reformed Turkey being admitted into the EU. “A Turkey that recognises
the Armenian genocide, a Turkey that accepts the Kurds, a Turkey that
respects human rights and evacuates Cyprus would no longer be the
Turkey we see today. In this sense, we do not want to shut the door
to Turkey.”

But Mr Chirac is staking an enormous amount on Turkey’s ability to
deliver on reform. In the meantime, he risks isolation within his own
party and among the public. His great fear is that the intensity of
the Turkey debate could yet infect next year’s referendum on the EU
constitutional treaty. Turkey’s elite, Page 21