Francois Hollande

President of France Francois Hollande met with the President of Turkey Abdullah Gul as part of the NATO summit in Chicago. This is the first such high ranking meeting since the change in government in France.

Hollande offered his Turkish counterpart to open a new page in the relations of the two countries. He told Gul that he carefully follows the development of the economy of Turkey and knows of Ankara’s role in the Middle East, in Africa and other parts of the world, Russian Newspaper writes.

According to Gul, it is possible to give France-Turkey contacts a fresh impulse, and that the new government of France can give a realistic evaluation of the relations of the two countries. Gul notes that Hollande was quite sincere in his words, and he enjoyed conversing with Hollande a lot more than with the previous president of France – Nicolas Sarkozy.

«What are the real problems we have with Turkey? What topic forces us to confront each other as if we were enemies? There is no such thing, which is why we should start over», – the President of Turkey says.

It is no secret that the relationships of these two countries were not very warm to say the least. A number of problems complicated their two sided contacts, such as the progressing law in Paris about criminalizing the denial of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire.

Furthermore, the former host of the Elysee Palace – Nicolas Sarkozy – was one of the main initiators of halting negotiations with Turkey about its potential joining of the European Union. However, after the elections in France, Ankara expressed hope that from now on the relations between the two countries will develop in a more positive scenario. Also, the negotiation procedure about the expansion of the European Union with the EU Commission was restored after Hollande’s election.

Ref: 104.109.109.1750