TURKISH PM SET TO VISIT FRANCE

armradio.am
05.04.2010 12:09

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit Paris on
April 6 and 7 for the closing ceremony of "Turkey Season" events in
France. Operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party,
or PKK, will be on the top of the Turkish prime minister’s agenda
which includes political, economical, social and cultural issues.

Erdogan will hold high level talks with President Nicholas Sarkozy,
Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Senate President Gerard Larcher and
Parliament Speaker Bernard Accoyer among others during his official
visit.

Turkey’s EU accession process and bilateral economic relations are
on the agenda, too.

However, a number of political debates took place before and during
the 10-month long event because of Sarkozy’s anti-Turkey political
line. Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan came
to edge of canceling the events while France titled this project
"Turkey Season" instead of "Turkey Year." The "Turkey Season" was
launched in June 2009, but the official opening ceremony took place
in October 2009 with participation of Gul.

Meanwhile, the French Foreign Ministry released a statement Friday
saying that new cooperation projects in the fields of transportation,
energy and infrastructure would be taken up during the visit.

The statement also noted that the visit would enable matters related
to Afghanistan, the Middle East and Iran to be taken up. "France’s
support for the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia will
be affirmed," the statement read.