FRANCE ENCOURAGES TURKEY TO STEP UP REGIONAL ROLE
Ya Libnan, Lebanon
Oct 5 2007
France backs a strong Turkish role in resolving Middle East issues
such as the turmoil in Iraq, the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program,
the instability in Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday.
Kouchner, pictured right, staring a one-day visit to Turkey, said
Paris wants to mend fences with Ankara But has not made up its mind
on whether this mainly Muslim country should join the European Union.
"We have recently gone through a difficult period in our relations
with Turkey … My visit reflects our common desire to give a strong
new impetus to our relations and start a period of normalization of
our ties," Kouchner said in an interview with the Milliyet newspaper.
Kouchner is the highest-level French official to visit Ankara since
Nicolas Sarkozy, a staunch opponent of Turkey’s EU bid, was elected
president in May.
Kouchner was to meet his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan, President
Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before wrapping
up his visit late Friday.
Sarkozy is opposed to Turkey’s EU membership, arguing that most of
its territory is in Asia and that the idea of a united Europe would
be diluted if its borders stretch that far. Instead he had proposed
a close EU partnership agreement.
He recently appeared to have softened his stance, however, saying
France would not block Turkey’s membership talks.
Sarkozy told Erdogan on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in
New York last month that such negotiations would lead to closer bonds
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.
Ankara has slammed Sarkozy’s stance, insisting that full membership
is the only objective of the talks.
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 as the EU suspended talks
in eight of the 35 policy areas that candidates must negotiate in
response to Ankara’s refusal to grant trade privileges to Cyprus.
Kouchner said France wants to cooperate with Turkey in energy and
would discuss its 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 said.
The Turkish gas company BOTAS is reportedly blocking GDF’s inclusion
in the project in retaliation for a French bill adopted in October
2006 calling for jail sentences for those who deny that Ottoman Turks
committed genocide against Armenians during World War I.
Turkey had threatened unspecified measures against the bill, which
followed a 2001 resolution by the French parliament recognizing the
killings as genocide that had already poisoned bilateral ties.