French foreign minister seeks to mend ties with Turkey

The Associated Press
Friday, October 5, 2007

ANKARA, Turkey: France’s foreign minister praised Turkey as an
important partner and urged dialogue on Friday as he tried to improve
relations that have soured over French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s
opposition to Ankara’s bid to join the European Union.

Turkey is also upset by a French law criminalizing the denial of
Armenian genocide, and by what it calls French reluctance to prosecute
or extradite suspected Kurdish rebels wanted by Turkey.

"Turkey is important partner for France, and France is important for
Turkey," Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said after meeting with his
Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan, at the beginning of his one-day
visit to Ankara. "Two friends might not always agree, but they can
solve everything through dialogue."

Kouchner also met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and was to
meet with President Abdullah Gul later Friday.

In contrast to Sarkozy, Kouchner supports Turkey’s EU bid, and
suggested recently that he was trying to persuade the French president
to soften his opposition. Sarkozy has said he prefers an EU
partnership with Turkey rather than full membership on the grounds
that it is not geographically part of Europe, but that he would not
block Turkish membership – which is many years away.

Kouchner said the sides had agreed to hold a series of meetings to
discuss Turkey’s membership bid while Babacan said he assured Kouchner
of Turkey’s continued process of reform for EU membership.

"I have said that Turkey will continue its reform process with
determination," Babacan said.

Kouchner, a longtime Socialist, joined Sarkozy’s conservative Cabinet
as part of the president’s effort to reach across the political
spectrum, but said he retains his own attitudes within the government.

In Ankara, he also sought to assuage Turkish anger over a law passed
last year in France to make denial of Armenian genocide a crime.

"We have talked about the issue and will continue to do so. That issue
is not a threat to our relations. Nothing has been decided yet,"
Kouchner said.

Turkey, which ended military ties with France over the genocide law,
acknowledges that great numbers of Armenians were killed in fighting
and mass expulsions in the early part of the last century, but
vehemently rejects the label of genocide.

Kouchner said he hoped that Turkey and France will resume military
cooperation. He did not elaborate.

Source: U-GEN-Turkey-France.php

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress