French dont want Turkey
French President Nicolas Sarkozy only promised to enforce bilateral relations with Turkey, but still refused to support the Islamic country to win the European Union membership, the presidential palace Elysee said Friday.
Sarkozy and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul held a discussion during lunch in Elysee after attending the inauguration of a Turkish culture exhibition in Paris earlier in the day.
The two presidents discussed many questions in cooperative atmosphere and mutual respect, and they shared the will to enforcebilateral ties, both in diplomatic and economic domains, sources from Elysee said.
As to the EU membership issue, Sarkozy and Gul reiterated their respective positions frankly, but agreed that the divarication will not harm France-Turkey bilateral relations in the future, according to the same sources.
However, Gul left the palace without any public declaration, which is odd from diplomatic routines.
Gul paid a three-day official visit to Paris under the banner of promoting Turkish Culture Season in France, which lasts nine months, from July to next March.
When U.S. President Barack Obama expressed his support for Turkey’s bid for EU in June, Sarkozy declared that France only wants “Turkey to be a bridge between East and West,” which marks the border of Europe rather than being included in Europe.
Turkey started its negotiation for EU membership in 2005, but with France leading the opposing group with some other EU members, it only opened talks with 11 of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete.
