Thursday, July 24, 2008
In a move to repair defense and military ties, Paris dispatches a high-level ambassador to Ankara to inform Turkish officials of Sarkozy’s newly announced White Book. ‘Turkey is one of the few countries that we have chosen to present our new defense and security strategies to,’ says D’Aboville
SERKAN DEMİRTAŞ/Analysis
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
A top French diplomat yesterday brought Turkish officials up to date on the recently published White Book on defense and security strategies, a move that is being interpreted as Paris’ intension to seek to mend damaged bilateral ties in the military field.
“Turkey is a very important country for us. Turkey is one of the few countries that we have chosen to present our new defense and security strategies to,” Benoit D’Aboville, chief advisor at the National Audit Office, told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.
Turkey and France have experienced bitter times in recent years after Paris recognized the 1915 deaths of Armenians as genocide and tried to pass a law punishing the denial of the genocide. The harshest reaction came from the Turkish military, which still affects bilateral military ties. Turkey excluded French companies from defense procurement tenders and even closed its airspace to French military aircraft.
D’Aboville admitted that there were still some difficulties in bilateral military ties but said the two countries have an excellent cooperation in NATO, especially in the operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia and in Kosovo. “Our troops are working together in some very dangerous zones in Afghanistan,” he said. Turkey and France rotate the command of the NATO’s ISAF mission in Kabul.
On June 17, French President Nicholas Sarkozy unveiled the White Book, a blueprint for France’s short term and strategic planning in the field of domestic and foreign security, detailing new threats stemming from globalization, introducing new structures to better organize and better finance its cost. Another dimension of this security understanding is France’s full participation in the structures of NATO, after nearly four decades of its withdrawal from the alliance’s military command.
Return to NATO
“In fact, we have not much need to return to NATO,” a high-level French diplomat said. “But President Sarkozy considers NATO as a family and he believes that France should be side by side with the other members of the family,” the diplomat added.
However, Paris has not yet officially announced its decision to return to NATO. There are a number of countries which welcome Paris’ intension, according to diplomats. “Our return will let our officers get better positions in the command structures. Nothing more. We’re already very active and efficient within NATO. More than 4,000 French troops are serving for the alliance, which makes 10 percent of all 29 countries’ contributions,” another diplomat added
No need for approval
A French return to NATO has been on Turkey’s agenda for some time as well. According to unconfirmed reports in the Turkish press, Ankara was seeking to bargain with Paris to allow the latter’s full participation in NATO in return for compromises such as less resistance to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
Turkish diplomats never confirmed such intensions but some academics strongly advised it to the government. “I think Turkey should veto a French return. France recently decided to put Turkish entrance in the EU to a referendum. Therefore Turkey should show that it also has some cards to play,” Çağrı Erhan, an academic and foreign relations expert said.
But according to French diplomats, there will be no process of approval in the NAC, the highest decision-making body of the alliance, if France decides to fully return. Furthermore, a French diplomat stated that there was no uneasiness on the Turkish side on a French return to the alliance. “Why would Turkey be against of it?” a diplomat asked.
“We have not heard of any uneasiness from Turkish diplomats on our full return to NATO,” a French diplomat said. “Such a thing would only make French taxpayers happy.”
Source: Turkish Daily News, July 24, 2008