ANKARA, FEBRUARY 3, ARMENPRESS; Before to wrap up a two-day official visit to Turkey French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the Year of Armenia in France, to run from 2006 autumn to 2007 autumn, will be followed by the Year of Turkey in France.
Philippe Douste-Blazy’s talks in Ankara were aimed at repairing diplomatic fences and partly at promoting the interests of French industry in Turkey. The French minister was accompanied by representatives from Eurocopter, Ariane-Espace, Suez, Eutelsat, Veolia-Environnement, Areva and Alstom, quite enough to show the interest of big French capital in Turkey.
Turkish business circles hold that French businessmen are seriously worried that they may miss the same opportunities as their counterparts from other EU countries have because of the negative attitude that Paris has taken vis-a-vis Turkey’s EU bid. It is argued in these circles that this concern is natural since France stands fifth in terms of foreign investments in Turkey — a position that no country would want to lose.
Among other things the French minister also discussed Turkey’s stance on Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli-Palestinian stand-off, the EU enlargement and the Armenian genocide. Referring to the genocide issue he said France was appreciating the debate within the Turkish society over this issue. He said the 2001 French law on the Armenian genocide reflects the society’s moods and its attitude to what happened in 1915.
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