!áH€ ="justify">The decision taken by the French national parliament last Thursday was caused by something deeper than politicians seeking support from voters of Armenian origin, the lobbying success of the Armenian diaspora or the compassionate sentiments of the French public resulting from the Armenian drama. The decision is based on the chronic concern the French political elite, both on the right and on the left, feels towards Turkey proceeding along its European Union process and the impudent indifference they display towards the EU that they founded. With the decision, the Armenian issue has become a part of people's sentiments, sacrificing Turkish-Armenian dialogue in the process.
The French right has been aligned against our country's EU membership perspective since 2004. The bigger partner in the governing coalition, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and the smaller one, the Union for French Democracy (UDF), openly voiced their objection to Turkey's membership as the negotiations neared. Due to their pressure, France will hold a referendum when our country is ready for admission. During last year's referendum on the constitution, these parties' campaigns were centered on anti-Turkish sentiments. While President Jacques Chirac and the current French government don't openly back such sentiment, there are many ministers within the Cabinet, especially Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who do. The opposition is for the most part covertly anti-Turkish. Both sides of French politics are dominated by an orientalist mindset of the last century that equates the East with underdevelopment, institutionalizing Islam's disharmony with modernity and perceiving Turkey as the enemy because it runs counter to these beliefs.

  With this mindset, it is impossible for them to place Turkey as a partner in the EU project into the consciousness. Their bias is expected. The opposition and the government voting together for the bill as if it was a national cause is very meaningful. The French politicians' outlook towards Turkey and the EU, pressuring Turkey and preventing the EU's enlargement won't change too easily. 

A new opportunity?

  On the other hand, this imprudence is pushing the perception of Turkey from Europe to a different sphere. Until very recently, the general outlook of Europe towards our many problems was based on belittling and leaving us alone to solve them. However, the growing anti-Turkish sentiment and the bill have started to create concern among many European opinion leaders and decision-makers, including the French ones. Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher, former British EU Minister Denis Macshane, current EU term president Finland's Parliament Speaker Lipponen, European Commission President Jose-Manuel Barosso, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Andrew Duff, Joost Lagendijk from the European Parliament and many other less influential politicians have now started to remind people that Turkey is Europe's partner and should be perceived as such.

  Even the French Foreign Ministry, which is constantly erecting obstacles in the way of our negotiations, was last week forced to say: �Turkey is a candidate for the EU. The relations emphasize Turkey's European perspective, and we are in support of it.�

  These may be the first signs of antipathy for Turkey transforming into empathy. The central issue is improving rights and freedoms and continuing with the transformation, refraining from getting third parties involved in contentious issues like the Armenian matter and as a result preventing these third parties from getting the opportunity to create obstacles.