‘We won’t accept any conditions’

I cannot say anything about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but foreign ministry officials on their way to France were very nervous. A single word by French President Jacques Chirac would have been enough to demoralize them.

It didn’t happen.

Chirac and Erdogan talked alone, only accompanied by a translator for half-an-hour. Afterwards delegations met for a one-and-a-half-hour meeting and then had dinner.

Almost no one knows what they talked about when they were alone, apart from a few close colleagues. During the one-and-a-half-hour meeting, the EU issue was discussed only briefly, and that was when Chirac said: "You know my attitude on the issue. There is not much to add to it."

I noticed that all the officials, led by the prime minister, were smiling after the meeting at the Elysee Palace. They didn’t exactly use these words, but their expressions clearly said, "Oh, what a relief."

This doubt will remain until Dec. 17
The doubt will always be with us. It will remain with us until the EU summit on Dec. 17, because in foreign affairs, no one knows what might happen tomorrow. A different wind may blow and everything said until then may be forgotten.

With the visit to France, we suspend our EU campaign until September. From September-to-December, the ground will tremble. We’ll start hearing about certain conspiracy theories and a few attempts at blackmail. Everyone will try to gain something from the process.

Turkey will bribe some, hand out flowers to others and sometimes it will also resort to blackmail.

In short, there is a long road ahead of us.

‘French scared of EU, not Turkey’
Jean Alexandre Sirlot is an incurable Turkophile. He is the author of the book "Europe," and is the husband of the most successful press attache I have ever seen, Nilgun.

There are not many who can analyze the French as well as Sirlot. On Tuesday he was a guest on CNN-Turk’s program Manset. He explained the reasons why the French public was so anti-Turkish. He provided us with a new perspective.

He said: "The French are not frightened of Turks. They are frightened of an EU that is out of their control."

It is a very correct standpoint.

France was one of the bosses in the initial 6 and then 9 nine-member Europe. Later, the EU enlarged to 12 and then 15 members, but France continued — albeit with a little trouble — to be a major player. However, the EU now has 25 members, and if you add the ones waiting in line with Turkey it will become a 29-member-union. Consequently, France will be unable to exert the influence in has enjoyed so much to date.

That’s why they are panicking.

Turkey is so big that it is as large as the total of the ten new members.

We should not be offended by the anti-Turkish stance France and the others are displaying. These are just a part of an international game.

You’ll see when Turkey becomes a full member, it will be the first country to object to any further enlargement. It will try to keep the door shut on any new candidates, because the cake gets smaller as the members increase.