ANKARA, July 17 (AFP) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan begins a three day visit to France Monday during which he will argue the case for Turkish membership of the European Union, an issue which divides the political class in Paris.
He will meet French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and President Jacques Chirac and sources say he could use the prospect of a large order for Airbus aircraft for the national airline to back his case for French support for membership. He will also meet non-government politicians.
"It is an important visit to an important EU state," according to a Turkish diplomat who did not want to be identified. He said bilateral and commercial ties would be under discussion as well as EU issues.
Turkey has been a candidate for membership since 1999 and in October the European Commission is due to give its opinion on the opening of negotiations with the country, with EU leaders taking a decision in December.
Ankara considers it has met the conditions laid down for the opening of negotiations. The government headed by Erdogan, whose AKP party has Islamist roots, has enacted several democratic reforms and hopes talks can start next year.
But the prospect of admitting a new member of 70 million inhabitants, overwhelmingly Muslim, has opened splits in European public opinion and among French politicians.
A call by US President George W. Bush at the NATO summit in Istanbul last month for Turkey to be admitted to the EU drew criticism from Chirac on the grounds that Bush was interfering in EU affairs.
But he has in the past described as "irreversible" Ankara's progress towards membership and spoken of the country's "historic and very ancient European vocation." However his governing UMP party opposes membership.
The main opposition group, the Socialist party (PS), supports membership but says talks should not open until Turkey has admitted the 1915 genocide of Armenians during the Ottoman empire. The issue is enormously sensitive for Turkey which denies genocide. It was infuriated by the 2001 adoption by the French parliament of a law recognising the existence of a genocide.