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TURKEY RUSHED TO PARIS BUT THE FRENCH KISS IS NOT COMING
Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 6 2012
Turkey
I really doubt if there was any other country that rejoiced so much
when Francois Hollande was elected as France's new president in May.
This came after the French Constitutional Court's February decision
repealing the law criminalizing denial of the Armenians' claims
of genocide.
After the terrible Sarko years, a light at the end of the tunnel
appeared to put relations back on track. Turkey ended sanctions
against France in June following a meeting between Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hollande.
"We can see that Hollande has the will to work through problems,"
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had said, explaining the logic behind
the decision and defining the future of Hollande's presidency as a
new page in bilateral relations.
Ankara at that time ignored statements made by Hollande during the
electoral campaign that he would seek ways to rework the denial bill
despite the court's ruling. There is no evidence that Hollande might
have discreetly told Erdogan that he would not take action about his
campaign promise and gain time by telling the Armenians that they
are looking for a way to bypass the country's highest legal authority.
Ankara might have thought that the court's ruling had so well buried
the denial bill that it was safe to think Hollande will drag its feet
for a long time and thus decided to lift the sanctions.
The rationale behind the decision was also to encourage Hollande not
to revisit the Armenian issue, along with the belief that the move
would also serve as an incentive for the Socialist president to lift
Sarkozy's veto over EU accession talks.
Actually, the satisfaction of seeing Hollande winning the elections
stemmed more from the hope of seeing the French lift their veto
over five chapters on accession talks than the hope of seeing a
more pro-Turkish approach on the Armenian problem. The belief that
Hollande's staff was more aware of the strategic importance of Turkey,
and less fanatical in their objections to Turkey's entry into the EU,
naturally led to the expectation that Hollande would take the decision
to lift the veto.
Well, that decision has not come yet. The French are saying it would
have been untimely to do so during the Greek Cypriot presidency. Fair
enough. But Ankara is not getting reassuring messages from the French
that the expected decision will come right after the end of the Greek
Cypriot presidency. The French so far have told the Turks they might
hold out an invitation to start an "exercise to talk about it."
What's clear is that the climate in relations has changed.
Turkey-bashing has ended; there is much better dialogue on regional
and international issues and an especially intense cooperation on
the Syrian crisis.
But we have to recall that Ankara told Nicolas Sarkozy's France that
so long as the veto is there, the French should not expect bilateral
ties to thrive as if there is no abnormality on the EU side.
The current situation is not sustainable and the "Hollande Spring"
in bilateral ties might come to an end if the French don't make up
their mind by winter.
November/06/2012
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-rushed-to-paris-but-the-french-kiss-is-not-coming.aspx?pageID=238&nID=34028&NewsCatID=412
Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 6 2012
Turkey
I really doubt if there was any other country that rejoiced so much
when Francois Hollande was elected as France's new president in May.
This came after the French Constitutional Court's February decision
repealing the law criminalizing denial of the Armenians' claims
of genocide.
After the terrible Sarko years, a light at the end of the tunnel
appeared to put relations back on track. Turkey ended sanctions
against France in June following a meeting between Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hollande.
"We can see that Hollande has the will to work through problems,"
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had said, explaining the logic behind
the decision and defining the future of Hollande's presidency as a
new page in bilateral relations.
Ankara at that time ignored statements made by Hollande during the
electoral campaign that he would seek ways to rework the denial bill
despite the court's ruling. There is no evidence that Hollande might
have discreetly told Erdogan that he would not take action about his
campaign promise and gain time by telling the Armenians that they
are looking for a way to bypass the country's highest legal authority.
Ankara might have thought that the court's ruling had so well buried
the denial bill that it was safe to think Hollande will drag its feet
for a long time and thus decided to lift the sanctions.
The rationale behind the decision was also to encourage Hollande not
to revisit the Armenian issue, along with the belief that the move
would also serve as an incentive for the Socialist president to lift
Sarkozy's veto over EU accession talks.
Actually, the satisfaction of seeing Hollande winning the elections
stemmed more from the hope of seeing the French lift their veto
over five chapters on accession talks than the hope of seeing a
more pro-Turkish approach on the Armenian problem. The belief that
Hollande's staff was more aware of the strategic importance of Turkey,
and less fanatical in their objections to Turkey's entry into the EU,
naturally led to the expectation that Hollande would take the decision
to lift the veto.
Well, that decision has not come yet. The French are saying it would
have been untimely to do so during the Greek Cypriot presidency. Fair
enough. But Ankara is not getting reassuring messages from the French
that the expected decision will come right after the end of the Greek
Cypriot presidency. The French so far have told the Turks they might
hold out an invitation to start an "exercise to talk about it."
What's clear is that the climate in relations has changed.
Turkey-bashing has ended; there is much better dialogue on regional
and international issues and an especially intense cooperation on
the Syrian crisis.
But we have to recall that Ankara told Nicolas Sarkozy's France that
so long as the veto is there, the French should not expect bilateral
ties to thrive as if there is no abnormality on the EU side.
The current situation is not sustainable and the "Hollande Spring"
in bilateral ties might come to an end if the French don't make up
their mind by winter.
November/06/2012
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-rushed-to-paris-but-the-french-kiss-is-not-coming.aspx?pageID=238&nID=34028&NewsCatID=412