Group: Turkish Business Club

French gendarmerie officers serving in the European Gendarmerie Force, an initiative comprising six European Union member states, are seen positioned at the Jarinje checkpoint on the border between Serbia and Kosovo.

France, which had thus far resisted Turkiye’s participation in the European Gendarmerie Force (EGF), an initiative comprising six European Union member states -- France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain -- has finally given up its objection, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner recently sending a letter to his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan, about the issue.

France is ready to support EU candidate Turkiye’s application to become an observer member of the EGF during the next interministerial committee of the EGF, Kouchner said in the letter.

France's move on the EGF issue comes only days ahead of an April 3-4 NATO summit co-hosted by France and Germany, at which US President Barack Obama will try to line up more allied manpower and money to fight the Taliban insurgency.

Babacan and Kouchner are expected to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit, diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity. In addition to the EGF issue, France's planned return to the NATO alliance is likely to be on agenda of the meeting. If no objection is raised, NATO members could agree to France's return to the alliance as early as the upcoming NATO summit in April, which will mark the 60th anniversary of the Western military pact.

Kouchner's letter actually came after France proposed last month to send EU gendarmes to train paramilitary police in Afghanistan to step up training of Afghan security forces.

Kouchner suggested at an EU summit that officers be sent from the EGF, which was set up under an agreement reached in 2004 to specialize in crisis management. Turkiye could also be involved along with EGF members France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Romania, he said.

"The countries of this group, the European countries, have accepted," Kouchner told reporters after outlining the proposal to other EU foreign ministers in Brussels. "We are going to try to make a joint proposition."

France's reversal is apparently a consequence of its awareness of a potential contradiction in state policies if it were to continue its strong opposition toward Turkiye's participation in the EGF while also planning to seek Turkish involvement in Afghanistan alongside EGF members.

Back in the summer of 2007, France's objection, despite the strong support of the EGF's four other members -- Romania became a member in December 2008 -- led to postponement of a decision on both Turkiye and Romania's applications for participation in the organization with "observer" status.

Later, during a meeting of directors-general for political affairs at foreign ministries of the five member countries held in the Dutch city of Noordwijk, where they discussed the applications, all members except France supported Turkiye's observer status within the force, but France didn't object to Romania's application.

Efforts by Italy, a staunch supporter of Turkiye's EU bid, to let Turkiye into the force were then defeated by France's continuous objections, which eventually also led to postponement of the decision concerning Romania.

France's block was then regarded as a blow to the improvement of security cooperation between the EU and Turkiye, an EU candidate country and NATO member. The EGF's express purpose is to rapidly conduct a complete spectrum of civil-security actions, either on its own or in parallel with military assistance, as an effective multinational tool. The block was assumed to reflect the determination of French President Nicolas Sarkozy vis-à-vis his staunch opposition to Turkiye's EU membership bid. Sarkozy has repeatedly claimed that Turkiye has no place in Europe and should be offered something other than membership.

Improvement of cooperation between NATO and the EU is another problematic area for Ankara, as it urges the two international organizations to stick to existing cooperation mechanisms while, in fact, the two intend to design a new one.

( Source: Le Monde )

Well, thanks France..
Nilgun Birgoren

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu expressed Friday Turkiye's willingness for a closer cooperation with France to achieve regional and global peace and stability. At a joint news conference with French Foreign Secretary Bernard Kouchner after their meeting in Paris, Davutoglu said that he had chance to discuss with Kouchner Turkiye's EU bid, as well as developments in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Balkans and Caucasus.

He said Turkiye and France were sharing a common vision on international issues, and the two countries had a potential to work together in a wide range of areas from the Balkans to Afghanistan.

Davutoglu said that he thanked French officials for their support to steps for normalization of relations between Turkiye and Armenia.

Kouchner talked about France's interest in the planned Nabucco pipeline project, Davutoglu told reporters, adding that Turkiye believes that this project was a common area of interest and that it could be more effective with more participants.

Upon a question on Turkiye's EU membership, Davutoglu said Turkiye would not accept anything other than full membership.

On his part, Kouchner said that Turkish-French relations have been advancing and Turkish President Abdullah Gul's latest visit to Paris enhanced the relations more. There was great cooperation possibilities in the areas of economy, politics, culture and defense, he said.
French minister said he was eager to visit Turkiye in the coming period.

"Season of Turkiye" activities in France have been continuing successfully, Kouchner said.

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources told the A.A correspondent that French authorities proposed that a working group should be established to boost relations between the two countries during meetings. Turkish party said this working group should only exert efforts to improve ties.
French minister also expressed his support to Turkiye's initiatives regarding Iran, sources added.



Source: AA