With this France may have thought that it had answered every question. Apparently France needs a center to resolve the problems of French citizens in northern Iraq. What would an office do there otherwise?When this issue was made public, we had to think that France was trying to be present in northern Iraq, at a moment when the relations between France and the US are bad, nourished by a strong anti-American rhetoric. There is no need to question France’s intentions about northern Iraq, as it has expressed its will to preserve Iraq’s territorial integrity. But we have to ask if there exists a country that is not officially defending Iraq’s territorial integrity?
Could northern Iraq seek independence in order to preserve itself from the ongoing civil war in Iraq? During the hostage crisis, Iran and the UK declared that they had agreed on not engaging a border dispute in the future. Does this agreement include the northern Iraqi border? Will the US be able to appease Turkey under these circumstances? Could some happy people be found when Barzani made statements about Turkey? We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, for France appears to be interested in the region. When we think about France and northern Iraq, we have to think about the recent past, about the period when the fight with the PKK was very intense, and also about the beginning of the 20th century. We should admit that right now, France is not very capable of playing an important role in northern Iraq. The presidential elections in France occupy more place than any other subject in France at the moment.
Not only the French people, but every one in the world should be worried about the next president of France. It’s obvious what politicians are capable of when it comes to getting votes. Nicolas Sarkozy is a perfect example of this phenomenon. He wants Islamophobes to vote for him instead of for Jean Marie Le Pen, and to ensure this he insists repeatedly that Turkey has no place in Europe. Sarkozy’s Turkey policy has also been affected by his stand about the “genocide law,” which also assures him the Armenian electorate’s support. As we can remember, he once labeled “scum” the young people of North African origin living in suburban areas, seemingly forgetting that they were French citizens. It was revealed last week that -- while he was interior minister -- Sarkozy told Azouz Begag, who was the delegate minister for equal opportunities, that he was disloyal and bloody stupid.
Sarkozy’s latest declarations have proven that he is also interested in the sciences. He declared in Philosophie Magazine that he was “inclined to think that people are born pedophiles and that it is also a problem that we do not know how to manage.” He has definitely shown the results of a rhetoric based on racial discrimination.
We know that in several countries, including Turkey, election processes witness almost similar debates. These kinds of debates, which have discriminating effects inside the country, are also harmful for external policies of vital importance. When there is no possible cure for the pathological issues inside the country, an external threat becomes very useful in order to freeze the problem. We can guess that France has discovered northern Iraq -- but this discovery appears not to be that useful.
Similar objects repel each other, as physics says. That helps to understand why France and Turkey have problems with each other, as their carelessness is all too similar.
