FRANCE AND TURKEY MOVE TO MEND FENCES UNDER THE SHADOW OF EU AND ARMENIAN LAW

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 8 2007

Once again it is the carrot tactic that is paying off to normalize
Turkish-French relations.

Turkey has been angered by the French move to ban the denial of
Armenian genocide and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he
will make every effort to deny Turkey full membership in the EU.

But in recent weeks things have started to change.

Sarkozy first met with his close ally U.S. President George W. Bush
and later met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bush has
been working on Sarkozy to tone down his opposition ion Turkey at the
EU. Then came the meeting with Erdogan in New York on the sidelines
of the U.N. General assembly meeting and things started to move for
mending fences.

On Friday French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was in Ankara
and diplomatic sources said this was the first step in the fence
mending process.

France sees vast business opportunities in Turkey and that it is
losing the market to its competitors. France wants to be active in the
natural gas projects in Turkey as well as in the telecommunications
industry. But it is losing out because of the frictions between Ankara
and Paris.

Turkey and France has a similar chilly period in their relations in the
1980s but late Turgut Ozal lured Paris by offering massive satellite
and airline purchase contracts. The same seems to be occurring now.

Kouchner said in an interview France wants to cooperate with Turkey
in the field of energy in particular and would try to overcome Turkish
opposition to the participation of Gaz de France (GDF) in the Nabucco
pipeline project to carry natural gas from the Middle East and Central
Asia to the EU via Turkey and the Balkans.

"This is a very important issue for France and I hope for speedy
progress," he told mass circulation Milliyet.

The Turkish gas company BOTAS is reportedly blocking GDF’s inclusion
in the project in retaliation for the Armenian genocide bill.

France and Turkey said Friday they would work to mend fences and
seek closer cooperation, despite lingering disputes over Ankara’s EU
membership bid and the Armenian massacres of the Ottoman era.

"We share a desire to improve our ties in every field… I see our
talks today as the beginning of a new impetus in bilateral relations,"
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said after talks with Kouchner.

Sarkozy argues that most of Turkey’s territory is in Asia and that the
idea of a united Europe would be diluted if its borders stretch that
far. He has instead proposed a close partnership agreement with Turkey.

Ankara has slammed Sarkozy’s stance, insisting that full membership
is the the only objective of its accession talks.

Pledging that Turkey would pursue its democratic reforms to catch up
with European norms, Babacan stressed that "we expect the EU to stay
loyal to the promises that it has made to Turkey."

Kouchner said the talks had laid the ground for an extensive dialogue
on Turkey’s EU aspirations.

"Our relations had cooled a bit. I hope they will warm up in the
coming days," he said.

Kouchner said he hoped a French bill passed in October 2006 calling
for jail sentences for those who deny that Ottoman Turks committed
genocide against Armenians during World War I would not stand in the
way of improving ties.

Turkey has threatened unspecified measures against the bill, which
followed a 2001 French parliament resolution, which had already
poisoned bilateral ties, recognizing the killings as genocide.

Sarkozy told Erdogan in New York last month that the negotiations
would lead to closer ties between Turkey and the EU, "even though we
disagree on the ultimate goal of these talks," Kouchner told Milliyet.

"Therefore, everything is open-ended today," he said, adding that a
debate on the future of Europe was also needed.

Turkey conducted far-reaching reforms to win the green light for
accession talks in October 2005 despite strong opposition in European
public opinion, notably in France.

Last year, its bid took a serious blow when the EU, in response to
Ankara’s refusal to grant trade privileges to Greek Cyprus, suspended
talks in eight of 35 policy areas candidates must negotiate.

Kouchner said France also backs a strong Turkish role in resolving
regional issues such as the turmoil in Iraq, the dispute over Iran’s
nuclear program, the instability in Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.

Kouchner also met Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul before wrapping
up his visit late Friday.