Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 17 2007

Royal hints at `privileged partnership’ for Turkey

Despite saying that it would be wrong for the European Union to
reject Turkey’s entry just because it is "Turkey," French
presidential contender Ségolène Royal has indicated that she prefers
"a privileged partnership" between Turkey and the European bloc but
not a partnership based on Turkey’s full membership.

"I believe that Turkey hasn’t fulfilled membership conditions as of
today and that a break should be given to the enlargement process to
enable [the mechanism of] Europe to work better," Royal said in an
interview aired late on Thursday on France 2, France’s largest
state-owned television station. She added that the EU should connect
many more countries to humanist values of Europe, in an effort to
explain that she was not categorically against Turkey’s EU bid.

"I would like to remind you of the fact that Turkey is a big, secular
country. … We want countries to be committed to these values even
within the framework of privileged partnerships," Royal said.