Tweet
BETWEEN SARKOZY AND ERDOGAN
HALA ELKHOLY
Hurriyet
Dec 17 2011
Turkey
Europe's financial crisis remains to be solved. The continent is moving
towards a fiscal union, with mechanisms for short-term liquidity
provision taking shape. But there is still the issue of reigniting
the engines of growth in Europe's economies.
This is a herculean task, directly related to changing the social
contract between Europe's people and its governments.
It is not about French and the others being lazy, but about
dysfunctional laws on labor, retail and other outdated legislation on
industry. Sarkozy was elected to change the course of France. Remember
how enthusiastic the French business community was when he was
elected? Look where we are now: a global economic crisis, mounting
debts of French banks and no prospect of sustainable growth in Europe.
A couple of French banks were even downgraded recently, and the
country is about to lose its AAA plus sovereign debt rating.
While all this is going on, France's president is focused on a bill
that would criminalize contesting the claims of Armenian Genocide.
Note France already legally declared the atrocities of 1915 as
genocide; they just thought they really needed another law banning the
criticism of this previous one. This explains why Sarkozy was warning
Turkey to accept the genocide claims by the year's end when he was
in Armenia this October; he planned to bring this up again around
election time. So a new problem is looming between France and Turkey.
Its origin, however, does not lie in Anatolia, but in France's
domestic politics.
France is due to hold a presidential election in 2012. Sarkozy is
trailing behind his socialist rival Hollande in opinion polls and
already has nothing to sell to the public. So he reached for his stash
of political tricks, found the genocide bill and automatically got a
boost of support from French Armenians. He knew of course, the first
day of voting is April 22, 2012, just two days before the memorial
day for Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives in the tragic events of
1915. This is classic provincial politics. Nicolas Sarkozy is acting
like any other center-right populist politician. It is not about the
Armenian identity, it is about winning the elections in 2012. Good
for him.
A few years back, Turkey's consul general in Paris was taken to court
for text on the consulate website explaining Turkey's version of 1915
atrocities. The court, however, did not pursue the matter, saying as
there is no law against the denial of an historical event deemed as
genocide by the French Parliament. Now they made the law. It makes
"denial of legally defined genocide" punishable, both by prison terms
and fines. Regardless of whether this is right or wrong, it will
most certainly impair Turkish-French relations. The French press is
currently not reporting on this, but they will surely react on Dec.
23, the day after the bill is due to pass against strong Turkish
opposition.
I can already feel the storm clouds gathering in Ankara. We all
know how it will play out. Prime Minister Erdogan will take the
opportunity to thunder on about the "decaying powers of Europe" and
their right-wing bigotry. It will be his comeback from the recent
calm days following his serious surgery. Did I say that Mr. Sarkozy
is the only center-right populist here? I must have forgotten about
Mr. Erdogan.
There are currently about a thousand French companies operating in
Turkey and about three hundred Turkish companies in France. They will
be the ones to suffer the center-right populism. Bad for globalization,
good for provincial politics.
From: A. Papazian
HALA ELKHOLY
Hurriyet
Dec 17 2011
Turkey
Europe's financial crisis remains to be solved. The continent is moving
towards a fiscal union, with mechanisms for short-term liquidity
provision taking shape. But there is still the issue of reigniting
the engines of growth in Europe's economies.
This is a herculean task, directly related to changing the social
contract between Europe's people and its governments.
It is not about French and the others being lazy, but about
dysfunctional laws on labor, retail and other outdated legislation on
industry. Sarkozy was elected to change the course of France. Remember
how enthusiastic the French business community was when he was
elected? Look where we are now: a global economic crisis, mounting
debts of French banks and no prospect of sustainable growth in Europe.
A couple of French banks were even downgraded recently, and the
country is about to lose its AAA plus sovereign debt rating.
While all this is going on, France's president is focused on a bill
that would criminalize contesting the claims of Armenian Genocide.
Note France already legally declared the atrocities of 1915 as
genocide; they just thought they really needed another law banning the
criticism of this previous one. This explains why Sarkozy was warning
Turkey to accept the genocide claims by the year's end when he was
in Armenia this October; he planned to bring this up again around
election time. So a new problem is looming between France and Turkey.
Its origin, however, does not lie in Anatolia, but in France's
domestic politics.
France is due to hold a presidential election in 2012. Sarkozy is
trailing behind his socialist rival Hollande in opinion polls and
already has nothing to sell to the public. So he reached for his stash
of political tricks, found the genocide bill and automatically got a
boost of support from French Armenians. He knew of course, the first
day of voting is April 22, 2012, just two days before the memorial
day for Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives in the tragic events of
1915. This is classic provincial politics. Nicolas Sarkozy is acting
like any other center-right populist politician. It is not about the
Armenian identity, it is about winning the elections in 2012. Good
for him.
A few years back, Turkey's consul general in Paris was taken to court
for text on the consulate website explaining Turkey's version of 1915
atrocities. The court, however, did not pursue the matter, saying as
there is no law against the denial of an historical event deemed as
genocide by the French Parliament. Now they made the law. It makes
"denial of legally defined genocide" punishable, both by prison terms
and fines. Regardless of whether this is right or wrong, it will
most certainly impair Turkish-French relations. The French press is
currently not reporting on this, but they will surely react on Dec.
23, the day after the bill is due to pass against strong Turkish
opposition.
I can already feel the storm clouds gathering in Ankara. We all
know how it will play out. Prime Minister Erdogan will take the
opportunity to thunder on about the "decaying powers of Europe" and
their right-wing bigotry. It will be his comeback from the recent
calm days following his serious surgery. Did I say that Mr. Sarkozy
is the only center-right populist here? I must have forgotten about
Mr. Erdogan.
There are currently about a thousand French companies operating in
Turkey and about three hundred Turkish companies in France. They will
be the ones to suffer the center-right populism. Bad for globalization,
good for provincial politics.
From: A. Papazian