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France to 'grill' Turkey on all issues for EU bid

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  • France to 'grill' Turkey on all issues for EU bid

    France to 'grill' Turkey on all issues for EU bid

    Expatica
    Dec 20 2004

    PARIS, Dec 20 (AFP) - France will put all issues to Turkey during
    negotiations over it joining the European Union, "including that of the
    Armenian genocide," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Monday.

    "What has to be done now is start membership negotiations which are
    going to be very long, very difficult, during which we will put all
    issues on the table, including that of the Armenian genocide, with
    the hope of obtaining a response from Turkey before membership,"
    he told French radio station RTL.

    The 1915-1917 massacre of Armenians during the end of the Ottoman
    Empire has been a sensitive subject for Turkey, which has railed
    against other countries accepting the Armenians' account of the
    bloodshed as a "genocide".

    Although the French parliament passed a 2001 law applying the word
    "genocide" to the killings, the French government avoided using
    the term until December 14 - just three days before Turkey and the
    European Union agreed to start membership talks. Barnier talked of the
    "Armenian genocide" in parliament.

    French President Jacques Chirac supports Turkey joining the European
    Union, but he faces deep opposition from his own ruling party and
    the majority of voters.

    To add the Armenian issue to a list of others - most notably Ankara's
    recognition of the Greek Cypriot government - is seen as a bargaining
    chip in the membership negotiations that are to begin in October next
    year, and a way of showing the French public that Turkey is being
    made to heed Paris's voice.

    Barnier said that Chirac, in supporting Turkey, "is expressing a
    vision, expressing where the interest of our country, our continent,
    lies for him."

    The French president has promised that the final decision on whether
    Turkey gets to join the European Union or not, as far as French
    voters are concerned, will come in a referendum at the end of the
    negotiations.
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