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Today's Zaman, Turkey
May 7 2012
New president for France; new opportunity for Turkey?
7 May 2012 / GARY LACHMAN*, TODAY'S ZAMAN
The election of François Hollande to the French presidency creates a
new window of opportunity to re-energize Turkey's stalled European
Union membership negotiations.
It could even lead to the reversal of France's veto on the opening of
new chapters in talks regarding Turkey's accession. As of the present
time, only 13 of the 35 chapters have been opened, with no further
progress since 2010. France has specifically blocked chapters relating
to budgetary policy, institutions, regional policy, agricultural and
rural development as well as economic and monetary policy. Therefore,
the prospect of having a more pragmatic French president has resulted
in Ankara beginning to work on a number of currently blocked chapters
such as monetary policy. This new optimism stems from a belief that
although Hollande has said there would be no Turkish accession during
the next five-year presidential term, he has been far less adamant
against Turkey's membership than Mr. Sarkozy.
In fact, Mr. Hollande has been relatively quiet on the subject of
Turkey's EU bid as well as the Armenian genocide resolution, which was
considered by many to be a politically motivated effort by Sarkozy
aimed at a target that is already a favorite scapegoat of the French.
Readers should keep in mind that the real problem for Turkey was not
Sarkozy the man, but rather the French mindset that has long been
biased against Turks. The majority of the French people (at least
those with any political influence) believe that Turkey's EU
membership will create more problems than benefits for member states.
Although Sarkozy did his best to manipulate these feelings to his
advantage, this obviously didn't win him any measurable support as it
was already an entrenched belief. Therefore, even with the relatively
anti-Turkish-rhetoric-free Hollande, don't count on EU membership for
Turkey in the near future.
A brief examination of the personal life of François Hollande reveals
a man with a contemporary way of thinking who understands how to
achieve a stable relationship without the need for written contractual
agreements. Hopefully, a parallel with his personal life will be made
in terms of his relationship with Turkey. Hollande lived with fellow
Socialist Party politician Ségolène Royal for over thirty years and
fathered four children with her. This may be considered a relationship
far superior and long-lasting than many formal marriages these days.
He is now in a relationship with Valérie Trierweiler, a French
journalist he met while he was still with Ms. Royal. This indicates a
man with `relational flexibility.'
What can be extrapolated from this? The more common pattern is that a
man or woman married for many years with children meets someone new,
falls in love, divorces spouse number one, and marries new love.
Alternatively, a spouse falls out of love with husband/wife, divorces
and then finds new love and marries. Still another typical path is not
to formally marry number two, but to have a long-term, virtually
permanent partnership that recognizes that formal documentation of the
relationship is superfluous at this point in life. Mr. Hollande's
relationships don't really fall into any of those categories. First a
non-marriage with a political ally and second a relationship with
someone who could perhaps give him good press. Therefore, Hollande has
proven he is anything but common in his thinking. Pragmatic, yes;
conventional, no. Whether it's his proposed `Millionaire Tax,' support
for same-sex marriages (maybe he just thinks that marriage should just
be for gay people and not heterosexuals), reducing the corporate
income tax for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or hiring
tens of thousands of new teachers to be supervised by retired
teachers, the new French president has demonstrated his
open-mindedness.
Who knows? Maybe this will include more innovative thinking with
respect to Turkey's EU accession talks.
*Gary Lachman is an international lawyer formerly with the US
Department of State, a real estate developer, an adjunct associate
professor at Koç University, and associate professor at the Johns
Hopkins University with a consulting practice in İstanbul. He can be
contacted at [email protected]. (c) Gary Lachman 2012
May 7 2012
New president for France; new opportunity for Turkey?
7 May 2012 / GARY LACHMAN*, TODAY'S ZAMAN
The election of François Hollande to the French presidency creates a
new window of opportunity to re-energize Turkey's stalled European
Union membership negotiations.
It could even lead to the reversal of France's veto on the opening of
new chapters in talks regarding Turkey's accession. As of the present
time, only 13 of the 35 chapters have been opened, with no further
progress since 2010. France has specifically blocked chapters relating
to budgetary policy, institutions, regional policy, agricultural and
rural development as well as economic and monetary policy. Therefore,
the prospect of having a more pragmatic French president has resulted
in Ankara beginning to work on a number of currently blocked chapters
such as monetary policy. This new optimism stems from a belief that
although Hollande has said there would be no Turkish accession during
the next five-year presidential term, he has been far less adamant
against Turkey's membership than Mr. Sarkozy.
In fact, Mr. Hollande has been relatively quiet on the subject of
Turkey's EU bid as well as the Armenian genocide resolution, which was
considered by many to be a politically motivated effort by Sarkozy
aimed at a target that is already a favorite scapegoat of the French.
Readers should keep in mind that the real problem for Turkey was not
Sarkozy the man, but rather the French mindset that has long been
biased against Turks. The majority of the French people (at least
those with any political influence) believe that Turkey's EU
membership will create more problems than benefits for member states.
Although Sarkozy did his best to manipulate these feelings to his
advantage, this obviously didn't win him any measurable support as it
was already an entrenched belief. Therefore, even with the relatively
anti-Turkish-rhetoric-free Hollande, don't count on EU membership for
Turkey in the near future.
A brief examination of the personal life of François Hollande reveals
a man with a contemporary way of thinking who understands how to
achieve a stable relationship without the need for written contractual
agreements. Hopefully, a parallel with his personal life will be made
in terms of his relationship with Turkey. Hollande lived with fellow
Socialist Party politician Ségolène Royal for over thirty years and
fathered four children with her. This may be considered a relationship
far superior and long-lasting than many formal marriages these days.
He is now in a relationship with Valérie Trierweiler, a French
journalist he met while he was still with Ms. Royal. This indicates a
man with `relational flexibility.'
What can be extrapolated from this? The more common pattern is that a
man or woman married for many years with children meets someone new,
falls in love, divorces spouse number one, and marries new love.
Alternatively, a spouse falls out of love with husband/wife, divorces
and then finds new love and marries. Still another typical path is not
to formally marry number two, but to have a long-term, virtually
permanent partnership that recognizes that formal documentation of the
relationship is superfluous at this point in life. Mr. Hollande's
relationships don't really fall into any of those categories. First a
non-marriage with a political ally and second a relationship with
someone who could perhaps give him good press. Therefore, Hollande has
proven he is anything but common in his thinking. Pragmatic, yes;
conventional, no. Whether it's his proposed `Millionaire Tax,' support
for same-sex marriages (maybe he just thinks that marriage should just
be for gay people and not heterosexuals), reducing the corporate
income tax for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or hiring
tens of thousands of new teachers to be supervised by retired
teachers, the new French president has demonstrated his
open-mindedness.
Who knows? Maybe this will include more innovative thinking with
respect to Turkey's EU accession talks.
*Gary Lachman is an international lawyer formerly with the US
Department of State, a real estate developer, an adjunct associate
professor at Koç University, and associate professor at the Johns
Hopkins University with a consulting practice in İstanbul. He can be
contacted at [email protected]. (c) Gary Lachman 2012