OH NO! IT’S SARKOZY
Ilnur Cevik
The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 8 2007
The election of Nicholas Sarkozy winning 53 percent of the votes
in the second round of the presidential elections did not come as
a surprise to anyone in Ankara but the victory still caused deep
disappointment and concern in the Turkish government.
Turkish diplomatic sources said they feared Turkey’s bumpy relations
would take a beating with Sarkozy as the French president.
He has repeated several times that he does not want to see Turkey in
the EU and will do everything to bloc it. Turkish authorities fear
that Sarkozy could halt the accession talks.
"Further enlargement of the European Union is impossible without
preliminary reforms in its institutions. An endless enlargement means
death of political Europe. If I am elected as president of France
Turkey will not enter EU during my office. Turkey is located on Asia
Minor and it says everything," Sarkozy told his rival Segolene Royal
during a TV debate last week.
During the same debate Royal reserved the right to change her mind on
the issue, depending on future events, Sarkozy said his position is
"definitive."
Soon after his victory was announced Sarkozy said Turkey should be
the leader of a union of Mediterranean countries that will deal with
the EU…
Observers said this means Sarkozy may move to use French veto powers
to halt the accession negotiations with Turkey.
Turkey aware of these dangers has reportedly approached Germany to
convince the French not to stop Turkey’s accession process. Turkish
officials argued that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is also against
Turkey’s EU full membership but has not done anything to block it. So
they feel Germany should use its good offices to convince Sarkozy
not to take any radical moves on Turkey.
EU officials have also said they are dead against such a move
especially at a time when Turkey is going through a political crisis
and needs all the encouragement it can get to bolster its democracy.
What is also ironic is that Sarkozy is pro-American and is set to
forge closer relations with Washington. President George W. Bush was
the first to congratulate Sarkozy after his victory was announced.
Foreign policy analyst and commentator Cengiz Candar says Sarkozy’s
close relations with Bush could help Turkey to soften the French
objections over the EU. The Americans want Turkey to join the EU and
have often lobbied in favor of Ankara at times disturbing Germany
and France.
Now the Bush administration could help in convincing Sarkozy to be
more facilitating on Turkey. But Candar says this also means Turkey
has to maintain closer ties with Washington.
Turkish diplomatic sources say their concerns about Sarkozy are not
only limited to his negative attitude on Turkey’s EU membership. They
say his close relations with the Armenians in France who are highly
anti-Turkish are also creating anxiety in Ankara.
They say Sarkozy’s right-hand man Patric Devecian who is of Armenian
origin is slated to be named into a top position in France if the
conservatives win in the next parliamentary elections. There is even
talk that he may become prime minister.
Devecian is regarded as the mastermind who convinced the French to
legislate a law banning the denial of a so-called Armenian genocide
by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. The law which has drew angry reactions
form Turkey has been stalled in the French Senate but could be revived
if Sarkozy decides to push for it.
Turkish sources say Turco-French ties are already at an all time low
and may slide further down with Sarkozy. Turkey has banned French
companies form participating in defense tenders.
The New Anatolian learnt that France had a security attache at the
embassy whose term in office ended and he went back home. Now the
French have decided not to send a replacement signaling worsening ties.