Turkey’s foreign policy vision, which is based on promoting peace in the troubled Middle East, would be a boon, not a burden for the EU, Davutoğlu said in a lecture at the International Diplomatic Academy of Paris. “Turkey is part of Europe and will continue to be so. We follow this active policy to contribute to global peace and security,” he said.
France is one of the strongest opponents of Turkey’s accession to the EU, saying Turkey does not belong in Europe because it is culturally different. In an interview published on Friday in the French daily Le Monde, Davutoğlu said France should not block Turkish accession because Ankara could help the EU have better ties with the Muslim world.
“Turkey and France have influence in the same regions. True cooperation could create a new dynamic in the Mediterranean, in North Africa, in the Caucasus and in the Middle East,” Davutoğlu said, ahead of talks with his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner. “This would also help the European Union. That’s why all the mistakes and misunderstandings that are sometimes expressed in France have no historical or political basis,” he said.
