"Turkey and France: calm after the demagoguery By Ahmet O. Evin Commentary by Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy's oft-repeated and blunt statements throughout his presidential campaign brought the Turkish issue into the center of French politics and reinforced it as one of the predominant concerns of European integration. Both the Turkish public and leadership have become accustomed to voices raised against Turkey's membership in the EU by, for example, Valery Giscard d'Estaing and, more recently, by almost the entire spectrum of Austrian political leaders. But Sarkozy's obsession with Turkey in the context of French domestic politics appeared to have been driven more by personal convictions than policy considerations. Many Turks, in short, came to view Sarkozy as an unrelenting Turcophobe."
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