French PM to visit Turkey to give impetus to bilateral relations

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon will pay a formal visit to Ankara in July in a bid to repair the bilateral relations strained over his country's stance against Turkey's EU membership, diplomats said on Wednesday.


Turkish and French diplomats are still working on the date for the visit of Fillon, who will come to Turkey at the invitation of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

French officials want to set the date after the elections at the European Parliament in June, in a bid to block possible efforts by politicians, who are against Turkey's EU membership, to use the visit as propaganda material, analysts told the Anatolian Agency.

Relations between Turkey and France have been strained over the past few years.

Paris says the European Union should offer Turkey something short of a full EU membership and blocks the opening of five chapters which it says are directly related to accession.

However, France had not raised difficulties for Turkey during its term as the rotating EU President last year, and opened two chapters in accession talks with Turkey as pledged ahead of the commencement of their term.

Fillon's visit to Ankara aims to give new impetus to improve mutual relations, analysts said.

turkishdailynews.com.tr