World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
April 8, 2010

Turkish PM’s Visit to France Fails to Boost Ties

BYLINE: Grace Annan

Yesterday, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended his
official visit to France. The climax of his visit was a meeting with
French president Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss, among other things,
Turkey’s bid to the European Union (EU), and the two governments’
diverging stances on sanctioning the Iranian state. Sarkozy upholds
that Turkey should be offered a privileged partnership instead of
full-blown EU membership, regardless of Turkey’s entrance date.
However, Erdogan remains opposed to this offer. As French minister for
EU affairs Pierre Lellouche stated, France and Turkey "agree to
disagree".

Significance:Franco-Turkish diplomatic ties are not progressing
significantly. Erdogan did, however, manage to commit Sarkozy to an
official visit to Turkey in 2011, when France takes over the helm of
the G20. The big issues remain EU membership, the governments’
diverging stances on the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians during the
First World War, and Turkey’s role in Asia, which drives a wedge
between the two countries on Iran’s nuclear programme in particular.
The highly mediatised "Season of Turkey" failed to bring about closer
diplomatic ties, despite Turkey’s efforts (seeFrance – Turkey: 7
October 2009:). Rather, business may do the trick: Erdogan would like
to see Franco-Turkish trade volumes increase by 50%, or 15 billion
euro (US$20.04 billion), in 2012. For all its frustration, the Turkish
government needs France on its side for political reasons–notably EU
membership and Turkey’s zero-conflict efforts in the Middle East–and
to boost Turkey’s economy. The Turkish government is therefore likely
to continue its dialogue with the French government regardless of
Sarkozy’s comments on Turkey’s EU membership bid.