Tweet
Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 23 2011
Europe needs Turkey
23 December 2011, 20:48 (GMT+04:00) Trend Arabic News Service Head
Rufiz Hafizoglu
Official Ankara officially response to Paris after the lower house of
the French Parliament adopted the law on a criminal penalty for the
denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide".
In response to the "humane" decision of the French Parliament, Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara imposes the first
stage of sanctions, consisting of eight points, against Paris.
These sanctions include Turkish ambassador's withdrawal from France,
the freezing of bilateral economic, political and military talks, the
ban on the use of Turkish air bases and ports by French military
aircrafts and ships without a special permit, the cancellation of a
joint Turkish-French meeting on economic issues, the abolition of all
military exercises with France.
According to many political analysts, the sanctions imposed at the
first stage, will not rather affect on France. Turkey will not
seriously respond to the new law for the sake of joining the EU.
But the Turkish growing economy, Ankara's role in the region and the
fact that Turkey plays a leading role in European energy security give
grounds to say that the imposed sanctions will harm the French economy
because Turkey can boycott French goods within the country, even if it
is unofficial.
If we consider the volume of total trade turnover, Turkey ranks the
eleventh place among the countries importing French goods (6 billion
euro) and France - the sixteenth place among the countries importing
Turkish goods (5.402 million euro).
The cars produced in France rank first among the goods which France
exports to Turkey. The production volume of the French car industry
exported to Turkey in 2011 amounted to 761 million euro.
Besides the cars, France exports aircraft engines, pharmaceuticals,
plastic raw materials to Turkey.
Turkey exported textile products to the amount of 412 million euro,
household appliances worth 292 million euro to France in 2011.
According to the statistics, the volume of investments of 350 Turkish
companies operating in France hit $ 500 million. Regarding the tourism
sector, the number of French tourists visiting Turkey hit more than
1.250.000 people last year.
However, it is possible that the French companies EDF, GDF Suez and
Areva, which plan to participate in the construction of a nuclear
power plant in Turkey, may be out of this process.
At present, Turkey is the only country using its geopolitical
position. It plays a role of a major transit country in supplying
energy resources to Europe. Thus, Turkey plays a significant role in
supplying Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Iraqi gas to Europe. Regarding the
lack of other alternative transit country for energy supplies to
Europe, the latter is in a state of dependence on Turkey.
If we take into account all these facts, despite the lower house of
the French Parliament adopted the law on a criminal penalty for the
denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide", the Senate is unlikely to
adopt the bill directed against Turkey.
From: A. Papazian
Dec 23 2011
Europe needs Turkey
23 December 2011, 20:48 (GMT+04:00) Trend Arabic News Service Head
Rufiz Hafizoglu
Official Ankara officially response to Paris after the lower house of
the French Parliament adopted the law on a criminal penalty for the
denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide".
In response to the "humane" decision of the French Parliament, Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara imposes the first
stage of sanctions, consisting of eight points, against Paris.
These sanctions include Turkish ambassador's withdrawal from France,
the freezing of bilateral economic, political and military talks, the
ban on the use of Turkish air bases and ports by French military
aircrafts and ships without a special permit, the cancellation of a
joint Turkish-French meeting on economic issues, the abolition of all
military exercises with France.
According to many political analysts, the sanctions imposed at the
first stage, will not rather affect on France. Turkey will not
seriously respond to the new law for the sake of joining the EU.
But the Turkish growing economy, Ankara's role in the region and the
fact that Turkey plays a leading role in European energy security give
grounds to say that the imposed sanctions will harm the French economy
because Turkey can boycott French goods within the country, even if it
is unofficial.
If we consider the volume of total trade turnover, Turkey ranks the
eleventh place among the countries importing French goods (6 billion
euro) and France - the sixteenth place among the countries importing
Turkish goods (5.402 million euro).
The cars produced in France rank first among the goods which France
exports to Turkey. The production volume of the French car industry
exported to Turkey in 2011 amounted to 761 million euro.
Besides the cars, France exports aircraft engines, pharmaceuticals,
plastic raw materials to Turkey.
Turkey exported textile products to the amount of 412 million euro,
household appliances worth 292 million euro to France in 2011.
According to the statistics, the volume of investments of 350 Turkish
companies operating in France hit $ 500 million. Regarding the tourism
sector, the number of French tourists visiting Turkey hit more than
1.250.000 people last year.
However, it is possible that the French companies EDF, GDF Suez and
Areva, which plan to participate in the construction of a nuclear
power plant in Turkey, may be out of this process.
At present, Turkey is the only country using its geopolitical
position. It plays a role of a major transit country in supplying
energy resources to Europe. Thus, Turkey plays a significant role in
supplying Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Iraqi gas to Europe. Regarding the
lack of other alternative transit country for energy supplies to
Europe, the latter is in a state of dependence on Turkey.
If we take into account all these facts, despite the lower house of
the French Parliament adopted the law on a criminal penalty for the
denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide", the Senate is unlikely to
adopt the bill directed against Turkey.
From: A. Papazian