Loyal to Turkey, has France fulfilled its duty?

Selma Akkaya

‘France has sent a message for Turks, for Kurds, by its recent aggression and hostility towards the Kurds in France: raiding their homes and breaking down the doors of pro-Kurdish organisations’, writes Selma Akkaya for Yeni Özgür Politika.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Turkey’s Minister for Foreign Affairs met with Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Defence of the French Republic during NATO’s Foreign Ministers Meeting in Brussels. As the meeting took place, French anti-terrorism units were breaking down the doors of Marseille-based Kurdish organisations and activists houses and using police dogs in these operations to ‘satisfy’ Turkey.

In being so loyal to Turkey, we can ask: ‘France, did you fulfil your duty?’

Turkey’s Foreign Minister said: “During the meetings, we both evaluated bilateral relations and had the opportunity to discuss regional issues, especially the situation in Syria, Libya and Afghanistan”. Just as he was giving this speech, an operation took place in Frace.

That same evening, a documentary on Turkey’s President Erdoğan was broadcast on TV5 Monde, which broadcast some important messages of Macron for Erdoğan. On 23 March, it was reported in the media that Strasbourg Municipality had provided financial aid amounting to 2,563,599 Euros for the construction of the Eyüp Sultan Mosque, which is Erdoğan’s project in Strasbourg. It is noteworthy that all of this took place during the same day.

The documentary titled ‘Erdoğan: Sultan who defies Europe’ was clearly prepared by the state. The aim of the programme was supposedly “to criticize Erdoğan”, but it was in an effort to provide a basis for continuing France-Turkey relations.

When sharing a critique of Erdoğan, who intervened with comments relating to the 2022 elections in France, Macron underlined the EU’s and NATO’s need for Turkey with respect to the regional balance. “Dialogue” with Turkey should be continued, was the message of Macron, put bluntly. On the other hand, Sarkozy and Manuel Valls used to prefer using much tougher language when addressing Erdoğan.

During the TV5 broadcast, it was really hard to figure out whether Turkey was being criticised or praised as it was constantly stated that Turkey was an “ally” in issues of ‘security’ and ‘refugees’. Macron clearly has departed from his previous stances where he presented forthright criticisms of Erdoğan. The new ‘profile’ of France, which has sought to create a new ‘path of dialogue’ with Turkey in Brussels, is an indicator that the French ‘deep state’, which would like to normalise relations with Turkey, has made a new ‘move’ and Macron has pulled back from the liberal politics he represented.

History has repeated itself once again. The buttons keep being pushed to launch ‘operations’ whenever a ‘political dialogue’ and ‘negotiations’ with Turkey take place. France has sent a message for Turks, for Kurds, by its recent aggression and hostility towards the Kurds in France: raiding their homes and breaking down the doors of pro-Kurdish organisations.

“I touched your soft spot. It’s your turn”, was the message of France, because France seeks to increase its market share in Turkey’s markets which represented over $20 billion in value in 2021.