ANALYSIS - Ankara-Paris relations depends on France 'normalization'

By Haci Mehmet Boyraz and Suheyl Yasir Yildiz

ISTANBUL (AA) - There was a significant development in Turkish-French relations that have high tension for a long time: A meeting was held on March 2 via video conference method between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

In any case, it can be seen as a positive development that the two leaders met at such a time when serious problems were encountered in Turkish-French relations due to the populist and top-down politics of the Macron administration.

- Problematic areas in bilateral relations

Before evaluating the meeting, it would be valuable to point out the problematic areas.

The Libyan crisis, the Syrian crisis, the Karabakh issue, developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey's accession process to the European Union and Macron's unfounded statements about and on Islam and its followers, Muslims, are among issues that have caused tension between the two countries in recent years.

Firstly, it should be noted that the French government's attitude on the Libyan crisis negatively affects bilateral relations.

As Turkey continues its relationship with the boundaries of international law with and in the UN-recognized Libyan Government of National Accord, the French government cooperates with the putschist General Khalifa Haftar does not just stop there but also provides military aid to Haftar's forces. Moreover, the French government negatively reacted to "the Maritime Boundary Delimitation Agreement" and "Security and Military Cooperation Agreement" signed between Turkey and Libya on Nov. 27, 2019, and brought up several unfounded allegations against Ankara due to the agreements.

Despite France's attitude that prioritizes its interest and disregards international law, it creates problems in bilateral relations that Turkey is acting with the international community and is located on the side of the legitimate government.

The two countries have been at loggerheads for a long time over the Syrian crisis. Because Turkey, also following the UN-led international community on the Syrian crisis, opposes the Assad regime, which has no political legitimacy.

On the other hand, the French government, beyond continuing to negotiate with Assad, again in a completely opposite attitude, openly and supports the PKK terror organization's extension in the region, the PYD/YPG.

This naturally leads to Turkey's reaction. It should be noted here that France's support to the PYD/YPG is not specific to Macron's administration. Indeed, while Macron's predecessor, Francois Hollande, was serving as president, he clearly demonstrated standing against Turkey by hosting the so-called representatives of PYD in the Elysée Palace.

Hollande also stated in an interview in 2018 that he considers the terror organization PYD/YPG as an ally of France and accused Turkey because of an operation conducted in the area. From this point of view, it can be stated that Paris's administration is in the clear abdication of reason about the PYD/YPG.

In terms of being another actual subject, the intervention in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh has also confronted France and Turkey. Because when the operation started against Karabakh, under the Armenian occupation, Turkey gave support to Azerbaijan without hesitation.

On the other hand, France under Macron's administration supported Armenia with the Armenian lobby's influence in the country. Such that Macron pursued a provocative policy by making statements that military intervention is required in the region under the EU's roof.

Moreover, as reflected in the international press, it was revealed that the French government even provided military aid by sending weapons to Armenia by air during a cease-fire between the parties. Even after the end of the operation, France continued its provocative policy.

For instance, although Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared defeat in Karabakh and announced that troops would withdraw from the region, in the Senate, the upper wing of the French parliament, a vote was held to recognize Karabakh as an autonomous state under the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic."

However, Macron, who became aware of the harsh realities in the field, had to accept that Karabakh is Azerbaijan's territory in his statement on the subject. Hence, it may be said that France, under Macron's administration, lost to Turkey and the international community by taking part on the opposite side instead of taking part on legitimate actors per international law in Karabakh after Libya.

On the other hand, France revised the Defense Cooperation Agreement previously signed between the two countries due to the negotiations with the Greek Cypriot administration in 2017. It received a military base from the Greek Cypriots. This is a strategic development that expanded France's scope in the Eastern Mediterranean.

However, one of the two important points here is that the French energy company, Total, continues natural gas exploration activities in parcels declared unilaterally by the Greek Cypriot administration in violation of international law. In other words, it is not a step that may only be read with political and military motives that France gets a military base in the Greek Cypriot lands.

Consequently, when looking at the problems from this perspective, the economic-political background of France's interest in the Eastern Mediterranean can be better understood. Besides, the other important issue is that France is involved in developments in the Eastern Mediterranean through the Greek Cypriot administration within the context of this agreement and once again a confrontation with Turkey.

Because, within the scope of the recently established Greek-French cooperation, the two countries frequently organize military exercises and they attempt targeting Turkey under the umbrella of the EU and the so-called "membership solidarity."

Meanwhile, it must also not be overlooked that Turkey's accession to the European Union has an important place in Turkey-France relation, because, as is publicly known, France is among the countries most skeptical of Turkey's EU membership as a state policy and does not refrain from expressing that attitude at every opportunity.

In fact, this hostility that emerged in the period of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has led to serious debates on the triangle of Turkey-France-EU. For instance, during his tenure, Sarkozy said that it should not be explicitly given the membership perspective to Turkey and proposed an alternative constitution called "Union for the Mediterranean" instead of the EU. Such alternatives that have been declined from their earliest day by Turkey are still being expressed now and again by France. Besides, this circumstance harms the process of Turkey's EU membership.

It also causes Turkey's reaction that Macron is turning to Islamophobic rhetoric to increase his political popularity, which has recently declined in society's eyes.

Macron's presumptuous accusations such as "Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today and should be restructured," his attempt to assimilate millions of Muslims living in France by deriding them into a "French Islam," the closure of numerous mosques throughout France with lame excuses and his top-down arguments such as preventing countries like Turkey and Algeria from training France's imams are among concrete examples of this situation.

Turkey tries to protect the rights and freedom of Muslims by responding to such baseless statements by Macron. In this context, it can be easily determined that all issues that occupy the recent Turkey-France relations start and continues with the Paris administration.

On the other hand, the main reason why Turkish-French relations strained more than ever before is related to Turkey's new foreign policy vision that drew it. In this regard, Turkey has become an actor. In this regard, Turkey, by taking constructive and pre-emptive steps in every area, has become an actor that has become more effective every passing day, not only in regional politics but in world politics. This mentioned situation is also valid for the African region that France once colonized because France worried about its own interest that Turkey is establishing friendly relations with countries in the region and increase its soft power in the region.

France, which has difficulty not wanting to accept these realities, is trying to impose its own subjective agenda on Turkey by approaching the issue from a neo-colonial perspective. However, Turkey refuses small roles assigned to other global actors, including France and justifiably tries to act in accordance with its history and power. This also causes Turkey to have problems with not only France or other European countries but the West, which corresponds to wide political geography.

- Erdogan-Macron meeting

In such a period when Turkish-French relations were going through a difficult period, the presidents of the countries decided to meet on March 2 via video conference due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The result of the Erdogan-Macron deliberation, in which the above-mentioned problematic areas were discussed, was announced with the words that the two states decided to interoperate to attain peace in their political geography in a diplomatic tone.

In this context, Erdogan, who indicated that Turkey and France are two of NATO's strongest allies, expressed that the security, peace and stability efforts of the two countries can make significant contributions in the vast geography from Europe to the Caucasus from the Middle East to Africa.

On the other hand, Erdogan stated that terrorism is a threat that remains valid for both countries and expressed efforts to ensure peace and stability should include joint efforts in the fight against terror organizations.

It is noteworthy that the two countries frequently confront each other in regions where Erdogan regards a high potential to work with France.

Besides, even in the solution to problems in the same regions where mutual conflicts of interest are high, it should not be overlooked that Turkey extends a friendly offer of a hand of peace.

As a matter of fact, it is remarkable that Erdogan emphasized the importance of cooperation between the two countries by referring to the Ankara Agreement, which was signed in 1921, and this year marks its centennial.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the bilateral meeting held on March 2 is not a surprise.

As it is recalled, in January, at a time when bilateral relations are getting worse every passing day, Macron wrote a letter to Erdogan and stated that he wanted to meet as soon as possible to reduce the tension in bilateral relations.

Accordingly, the Erdogan-Macron meeting can be seen as the continuation of the diplomacy traffic that started in January rather than a surprise development.

However, it is not possible to say that Turkish-French relations have normalized, at least for now. Because the issues are not of the kind that can be easily solved in a short time and they cover a quite wide scope, it would be more appropriate to interpret the meeting as a tension-relieving step.

Indeed, the tensions are still high, which is evident from the tone of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who said Turkey stopped "insulting" France and the EU, which he said has eased the tensions in bilateral ties, but relations would remain fragile until Turkey took concrete steps.

It is a concrete reality that the root cause of problems in Turkish-French relations is mainly the Macron administration. Therefore, contrary to the statement by Le Drian, if France, under Macron, is sincere about relations with Turkey and puts it into practice, it can be said that relations can really be normalized.

As a result, the meeting is undoubtedly an important step toward normalizing Turkish-French relations in an atmosphere in which is being touted Turkey as the source of all problems by France and its European partners.

However, such constructive negotiations must continue for a true normalization in relations due to the wide and deep problem areas between Turkey and France.