BY BERIL DEDEOGLU
STAR- Paris was one of the important stops in Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's November schedule. This visit followed President Abdullah Gul's trip to Paris as part of the Turkish Season in France, where certain tensions were seen. Davutoglu explained Turkey's foreign policy moves to the French and international media, saying that people who claim Turkey has changed its axis should try to look at the world with new eyes. He discussed Turkey's approach and initiatives. During his visit, he also met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and probably said similar things.
France's approach can be summed up as, 'Let's do the European Union process, but let's also develop bilateral relations,' whereas Turkey's approach says that bilateral relations can't be separated from the EU process. France is eager to develop bilateral relations and invest in Turkey, especially in the energy sector, and to win back military contracts. But Turkey wants to see France change its stance, and is in no hurry. Turkey knows that Sarkozy and his people, who oppose Turkey's EU bid, aren't all there is to France.
As there are other forces in France, Turkey partially dropped obstacles to France using its airspace to reach its troops in Afghanistan. The US might have played a role in this. The possibility of Gaz de France getting involved into the Nabucco project has also been raised. Among other pipelines, Nabucco is the one which most closely concerns Europe, but it's also likely to suffer delays. So getting France involved would require decision-makers to be careful about Turkey and also shows that Turkey is in no hurry. These developments, which don't indicate great initiatives in terms of bilateral relations but long-term expectations, were welcomed in Turkey.
French Minister for EU Affairs Pierre Lellouche said that France would continue to oppose Turkey's EU membership, but that it wants Turkey to stay in the talks and that France wants to maximize bilateral economic, strategic and political relations, as does Turkey. In short, as France tries to block Turkey's EU membership, Turkey will try to work with France and do what it asks. Of course some might ask, why would Turkey do this?
Either Turkey has left the EU process and we learn this from Lellouche, or he's trying to create a public perception that they convinced Turkey, that is, presenting it as a fait accompli through such statements. Lellouche said that he was invited to attend the recent landmark soccer game between Armenia and Turkey in Bursa, but he wasn't able to come due to scheduling conflicts. So the first possibility doesn't seem to be reasonable or credible. The second possibility might indicate a Turkish 'wait and see' policy. We should also remember that such a stance poisons Turkish public opinion and that Turkey is helping France's policy of throwing in the towel. Turkey needs top officials to make statements about the issue of EU and France.