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bigbadsuzie · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:00 am Post subject: Franco Turk relations

Yes, ironic isn't it,just as a Turkish writer is awarded the Noble peace prize the French (bless em) are kicking up a stink about something that happened more than 90 years ago just it would seem for political point scoring in a forthcoming election . No doubt the upper house will thrown the bill out and some form of common sense will come to the top . Now why is it that the French ,Austrians ,Germans don't want this country in Europe ,ever, just what are they afraid of ? We are talking of at least 10- 12 years but I think entry is inevitable ,despite this storm and even the Cyprus issue,Europe CANNOT afford to let Turkey walk away from the conference table ,anybody disagree on that ?

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

Hee! When the French set out to taunt someone, they sure do it right. Here's to the French as the undisputed world champions of taunting!

bigbadsuzie · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:14 am Post subject:

I think the Greeks are pretty good at it too and petty and vindictive to boot even on a bad day .

xulagu · Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 16

I honestly don't see Turkey joining the Union for a very long time if ever.What is clear is that the majority of Europe doesn't want it and that institutions in Turkey would never be prepared to concede real power and decision making to Brussels.
Concerning genocide,it seems rather evident that such a policy was used by factions in the CUP triumvirate at the time.One only has to look at Ottoman policy in Bulgaria in the late 1800's, the ethnic cleansing carried out by both Turkey and Greece in the early 20's and the almost complete absence today of Armenians in Eastern Turkey to see that.However,for the French to enshrine the genocide in law seems to be stirring the shit,especially at this time. Armenia still occupies Azeri land and Garabagh which was 'cleansed' in the early nineties.Hypocrisy on all sides...

bigbadsuzie · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:27 am Post subject:

Interesting response, however, I sincerely believe that the only way Turkey will fail to get in is, if it walks away from the table,it knows how to play a waiting game ,I think Erdogan has taken a page or two from the Saddam Hussein book on brinkmanship, he's holding out, he knows Europe needs Turkey more than they are prepared to admit.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

It's all a bit childish. I read that Turkish parliament is going to take a vote on French attrocities in Libya! What has that got to do with the price of beyaz peynir?

I reckon the Scottish parliament should pass a bill saying that it is a crime to say there was no massacre at Culloden.

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

Kodak · Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 101 Location: Leeds, England

Agree with the above poster. The Turkish govt would be best leaving this thing alone. To make a retaliatory gesture toward the French such as DMB suggested will just make them look more 'guilty' and even worse, defensive.

Being an Ancient History graduate I can't help but compare these tactics those politicians, especially tribunes, used in the late Republic. When you don't want someone else's law going through, you table your own law about something or other defaming the other lawmaker and discredit him.

In my opinion that's the case here. Undoubtedly this French bill is a disguised 'veto' attempt to block Turkey's entrance to the EU. The bill was brought about mainly by the French Socialists, the very party that don't want Turkey anywhere near the EU.

Who I do really feel sorry for in this is Orhan Pamuk. The fact that this happened at the same time as him winning the Nobel prize is only going to get him a lot more animosity back home.

As for Turkey in the EU? Of course it's going to happen some day, that's ineviatable in my view. However, with the amount of opposition they are facing, it's going to be a decade or more in my opinion.

Golightly · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:30 am Post subject:

Erdogan has already said that 'you can't clean dirty water with dirty water', which I take to mean that he thinks a retaliatory law against the Frogs is so much doggy do. The whole Thing With The ArmenianThing That Wasn't The Thing That Other People Think It Was, And Anyway, It Happened A Long Time Ago, That Thing That We Don't Mention, See, I've Even Forgotten What It Was, La La La, I Can't Hear You, By The Way, What's This Elephant Doing In The Living Room, is that of course Armenia is going to kick up a stink, while the Turkish Republic, which didn't exist at that time, is going to remain silent - after all, reparations and money are involved. Lots of money if a ruling of genocide is made.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

thrifty · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1665 Location: chip van

A few hours after the French Parliament passed the bill some Turkish woman from a consumers group said Turks must not:

eat at a French restaurant
buy French wine, cheese, perfume
study in France

It cracked me up because how many Turks can afford to do those things. We went to the supermarket and there was not one French product that I could see-true it wasn't Migros but we did our duty and instead of buying petit danone yoghurts we bouught buy b�y�mix-both are produced in Turkey of course.

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

thrifty · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1665 Location: chip van

No great loss there since I am married.

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

Golightly · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 11:41 am Post subject:

Another example of the pomposity of a certain kind of middle-class Turkish person. Will they start referring to the French as peynir-yiyen teslim maymunlar?