TURKEY, FRANCE TEAM PLAYERS, SAYS FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY
Today’s Zaman
Dec 25 2008
Turkey
The French presidency of the Council of the European Union ended with
on a positive note for Turkey.
Having lost all its expectations of opening new chapters in the
EU accession process, news coming from Brussels caught the Turkish
nation by surprise: The French, the nation that has been saying "no"
to Turkey’s eventual membership in the EU was more willing than the
Turks to continue the negotiation process.
Bernard Emie, the French ambassador to Turkey, underlines that the
successes of the French presidency should not be limited to one single
angle of Turkey’s membership. "Turkey is part of the global world;
Turkey is part of the G-20; Turkey is part of Europe through the
Customs Union; Turkey is our strategic partner within NATO; Turkey is
associated with 90 percent of all of the foreign policy statements
issued by the presidency. Everything success in the EU concerns
Turkey positively," he told Today’s Zaman. The French ambassador
was particularly apologetic about the public negligence of European
funds spent in Turkey. Today’s Zaman spoke to Ambassador Emie about
the French presidency and his personal experiences in this semester.
What are the major accomplishments of the French presidency of the
Council of the European Union?
We achieved a great ambition: the Union for the Mediterranean
(UpM). This was not an easy task. There were numerous obstacles in
many of the countries involved and for different reasons, including
in Turkey. We managed to overcome all these difficulties by creating
a great project in which Turkey would play a major role. The UpM is
not the EuroMed process. It is much more than that. It is a political
mission and it is a common vision of our future.
Second, on Dec. 12 we managed to create a final package on energy
and climate change. This means that the EU will meet the so-called
20/20/20 target by 2020. This means reducing greenhouse gas emissions
by 20 percent and ensuring that 20 percent of all energy comes from
wind, solar and other renewable energy resources. This is a major
and ambitious objective in the run up to the Copenhagen Conference,
which will take place next year. Working in close connection with
the previous presidencies, and more specifically with Germany, during
whose presidency this objective was decided upon, we managed to set
a precedent for the Copenhagen Conference as it will put Europe at
the forefront of what should be done.
Europe, under the French presidency, was at the forefront when we
were hit by the international financial crisis. We took the lead to
define common answers to this terrible crisis. We took initiatives
to make sure that, first, Europeans organize a summit in Washington;
this summit was a Nicolas Sarkozy proposal endorsed by the president
of the United States. Apart from that, we managed to approve an EU
economy recovery plan equivalent to 1.5 percent of our collective
gross domestic product (GDP), which represents an enormous amount
of money and which will be injected into our economies to compensate
for the impact of this crisis.
We also managed to find some common answers to the Irish "no,"
which took place a couple of days after the start of the French
presidency. What was achieved as a compromise in Brussels last week
should allow the Lisbon Treaty to enter into force before the end
of 2009.
Under the French presidency, Europe also became a global player in
world politics…
Yes, and that is something we should insist on telling the public. Of
course Turkish public opinion always considers the EU through the
single angle of the rapprochement between Turkey and the EU. But
this is much more important. Look at the way which Europe, under
the French presidency, reaffirmed itself as a world power, a global
power and a driving force of restoring peace in the world. Look at
the Georgian crisis, which was not expected when we assumed the
presidency. We defined the eight-point draft which for the first
time in the history of Europe interrupted a conflict and stopped a
war. Closely coordinating with Turkey, we managed to stop a war. When
has Europe done that before? You will not find an example.
When there is a strong political will, when the Europeans are united,
when you try to bridge gaps and find answers to old issues, you can
get results. And then you come to realize what Europe means on the
international scene.
Turks want to be a part of this Europe. What did the French presidency
achieve on that front?
France was expected by certain circles in this country to be a very
difficult presidency for Turkey, and for obvious reasons; namely,
our national position with regard to the end of the negotiations. We
also heard some negative statements from Turkey showing that Turks
perceived the doors of the EU having been slammed in their face. But
the case was to the contrary. As the EU term president, we said as
early as possible that we wanted to be fair, neutral and objective
toward Turkey. This is why, during this semester, we worked extremely
hard and in close coordination with the Turkish bureaucracy and
Turkish political leaders to move in the right direction.
During this term we had a number of meetings which never took place in
the past. President Sarkozy and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan met three times in six months: in Paris, on the sidelines
of the UpM summit; and in Damascus at a summit attended by four
leaders — Bashar al-Assad of Syria as chairman of the Arab League,
the emir of Qatar as chairman of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),
Sarkozy as chairman of the EU and Erdogan as chairman of nothing but
as the prime minister of the only country that had institutionalized
relations with all the three other partners. France expressed very
positive appreciation concerning what Turkey is doing in the Middle
East and more specifically between Syria and Israel. The third meeting
was in Washington in the margins of the G-20 Summit at which there
was a very important bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Erdogan
and President Sarkozy.
When the French president met the Turkish prime minister, he said:
"Mr. Prime Minister, I will be extremely frank with you. You know my
national position. It has not changed. But I will put it aside and
as the president of the EU, I will act accordingly in the negotiation
process with your country. We will work as hard as possible in order
to open new chapters in negotiations. And we ask you to undertake the
necessary reforms to head in that direction." We behaved accordingly
at every stage of the negotiations. I can even tell you that we were
extremely active in order to overcome difficulties. As an ambassador
here, my team and I worked day and night to have the Turkish system
answering questions posed by the EU Presidency on time. I can tell you
that this has not always been easy; there have been ups and downs,
vacation periods and political obstacles. At the end of the day we
managed to open these two negotiation chapters.
What kind of difficulties did you have to deal with?
The way in which we worked in this country, I can tell you, has been
quite tough. As the representative of the French government, which
has a national position concerning this issue, it has not always
been very easy to work here. But in the end the work was extremely
rewarding because of the courtesy and kindness of Turkish officials,
Turkish members of Parliament and journalists. It was extremely
pleasant to work with professionals who are well informed and who
can go into details.
With this in mind, better connections with the media were developed for
better visibility. This was not the case with all of my predecessors
here. I think it is important to explain things, because perspective
is otherwise lost.
For the first time in this country, European Commission Delegation
to Turkey head Marc Pierini, eight of my colleagues and I went to
NevÅ~_ehir to inaugurate a wastewater treatment plant financed by the
European Commission. This was something unprecedented. It is important
for people in Turkey to understand that already hundreds of millions
of euros are being spent by European countries in what is called the
Pre-Accession Program. It means that Europe is building wastewater
treatment plants, it is building courthouses and it is financing the
transportation system in Ä°stanbul, to name a few. Who knows about
this? No one! So when Sarkozy says something, it makes headlines. But
when the chairman of the European Investment Bank (EIB) comes to
Turkey to sign an agreement with the mayor of Ä°stanbul to finance the
city’s new transportation system, it is nowhere in the press. This
will change, however, as people’s lives change. A French agency is
co-financing this project with 120 million euros. What the Europeans
want to do in this country is make it more developed and prepare it
for, I would say, better integration into the European market.
In the end, it was very pleasant to work with Turkish officials from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We worked with team spirit and that
is my message: team spirit. We can disagree; the official position
of this country can dislike certain official positions of the French
government, but dialogue is extremely important. I invested myself
tremendously, because doing otherwise would not work. My Turkish
colleague in Paris, Osman Koruturk, as well, worked in a very efficient
manner. And we worked once again in close coordination and as a team.
Did you feel any kind of degeneration in Turkey’s willingness to
continue with negotiations?
You have seen various documents issued on this issue by European
institutions during these last few months. These document do not
represent only one member’s position; they express the position of the
EU as a whole. The message is a positive message toward Turkey. It
is a message of encouragement and a message of continuing in that
direction. But meetings between Turkish and European deputies were
extremely tough. Take a look at what EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli
Rehn said after the Accession Conference which took place last Friday
in Brussels and during which the French minister of foreign affairs and
the Turkish foreign minister agreed to open two more chapters. Rehn’s
comments were extremely clear and as the representative of the
presidency, I feel completely comfortable with these remarks and
support them entirely. So Turkey should be more proactive and, as
Rehn said, we hope and we want to believe as has been said by top
Turkish leaders that 2009 will be the year of Europe and that many
efforts will be undertaken in that direction. We hope the municipal
elections will not prevent the whole system from continuing to work
on the European dimension.
Allegations of the so-called Armenian "genocide" gained a new
dimension in Turkey with a "campaign of apology." How is France
following these developments?
We take close interest in this issue. Armenian issues are very
sensitive for us because of a very effective Armenian diaspora in
France which plays important roles in political life. But the French
position has to be clarified. It is true that a law was passed by
the French Parliament in October 2006, but two weeks ago the French
Ministry of Interior told parliament that it is against this draft
law coming to the Senate. Unfortunately, the Turkish public opinion
did not listen long enough to hear this positive message.
The process of normalization between Armenia and Turkey has been
welcomed by France and the EU. Efforts of presidents Abdullah Gul and
Serzh Sarksyan, in the context of soccer diplomacy, were extremely
welcomed. We do support the process of normalization. We think that it
is extremely important to find means and ways to reopen the border. But
we don’t want to intervene in this process. We don’t want to create
problems for any party.
Concerning domestic debates, we don’t want to take side. In a
democratic society these debates are very important. France had
a similar discussion over Algeria, so we think it is positive for
societies to debate.
Contacts during the French presidency should also have been reflected
in bilateral relations. Where are we by means of Turkish-French
bilateral relations?
Let’s be clear, we have some of the oldest relations in the world. The
Turks and the French have known each other for a long time. We
even resemble one another. We are two large countries with imperial
histories. We are a little chauvinistic, we are proud of ourselves. We
have a positive vision of ourselves. We don’t lobby to sell ourselves
because we think that people have to love us because of what we are.
Our relations with Turkey are very important. They can have ups and
downs, but they are very important. We are political and strategic
allies in NATO. Our soldiers serve in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Lebanon
and Bosnia together. We share the same vision of the world. When
we encounter regional crises, Turkish and French policies working
hand in hand. Look at Georgia, look at the Middle East and the Doha
agreements and the Lebanese elections. Ninety-five percent of our
strategic visions overlap and because of that we welcome Turkey’s
membership in the UN Security Council.
Economy-wise, do you know that France is the second-largest investor
in Turkey? More than 300 French companies are in Turkey and employing
about 100,000 Turks. This means about 400,000 Turks live on French
investments. Officially, the Netherlands is the largest investor in
Turkey. But this is because international companies are based in the
Netherlands. In reality, France comes in first.
Our bilateral trade amounts to $10 billion and is balanced. That means
Turkey sells a lot of goods to France. Our vision for the near future
is to raise this figure to $15 billion. In the first quarter of 2008,
mutual trade between Turkey and France increased by 20 percent. No
other bilateral trade performed that well. I am extremely confident
in the long run. There are ups and downs, but there are ups and downs
between any couple.
–Boundary_(ID_F+6VXu8fLTB/TTnaNTxcoA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress