Peacemaker Nicolas Sarkozy admonishes Russia and Turkey

[RedBeard]

French President Nicolas Sarkozy criticised Russia for “threats” against Georgia during a Caucasus tour that also saw him draw ire from Turkey over comments about the “genocide” of Armenians.

Seeking to portray himself as a peacemaker during the three-nation trip, Mr Sarkozy – who brokered the deal to end the 2008 Georgia-Russia war – told thousands of cheering Georgians packed into Tbilisi’s Freedom Square that Moscow was still intimidating its defeated neighbour.

“France sees Russia as its friend, as a strategic partner. But to restore confidence, threats, intimidation, threats and attempts to destabilise (the situation) are fully unacceptable,” he said.

Georgia accuses Russia of violating the peace agreement by not pulling its troops back to pre-war positions and “occupying” the rebel provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Moscow recognised as independent states after the 2008 conflict.

In comments likely to irritate the Kremlin, which says its troops in the provinces are there to protect them from Georgia, Mr Sarkozy said Russia must withdraw its forces and fulfill its “word and honour”.

“Against all strategic logic and contrary to undertaken commitments, significant military forces are still stationed and were reinforced at your (Georgia’s) door, on the other side of the dividing lines,” he told the flag-waving crowd.

Using firm language that echoed the recent split with the Kremlin over action in Libya and Syria, Mr Sarkozy said that Russia must stop the Soviet-era practice of bossing sovereign territories that once answered to Moscow.

“Everyone must admit that the Soviet Union does not exist anymore and that a policy of spheres of influence is not intended to succeed it,” he said, adding that Georgia should be able to express its aspirations to join the EU and Nato despite Russian opposition.

The French leader – who is expected to seek re-election despite current difficulties at home – also courted controversy in Armenia by demanding that Turkey recognise the World War I-era massacres of Armenians as genocide before his first term ends next year.

“From 1915 to 2011, it seems to be enough (time) for reflection,” he said in Yerevan.


Peacemaker Nicolas Sarkozy admonishes Russia and Turkey - timesofmalta.com

 

[Quasar]

after losing the next election he may even end up in jail! a funny dude anyway!

 

[RedBeard]

Yes he will lose next election definitely!

 

[RedBeard]

Diplomatic Tensions Hit Franco-Turk Ties

Saturday, 8 October 2011

Relations between Turkey and France could be headed for a new crisis after French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested his government could pass a bill criminalizing any denial of Armenian genocide claims, drawing a swift reaction from Ankara.

Turkish Ambassador to Paris Tahsin Burcuoğlu will visit the French Foreign Ministry on Oct. 8 to lodge Ankara’s protest regarding Sarkozy’s comments, the Hürriyet Daily News has learned.

The development came on the same day the interior ministers of Turkey and France signed an important agreement on the fight against terror and organized crime, but the deal has been overshadowed by the eruption of the diplomatic crisis.

Sarkozy, who is currently on a Caucasus tour, visited Armenia on Oct. 6 and urged Turkey to “revisit its history” over the killings of hundreds of thousands Armenians during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

If Turkey does not recognize the genocide claims and step toward reconciliation, the French president said he would consider proposing the adoption of a law criminalizing the denial of the killings as genocide. An earlier attempt by the French government was rejected by the French Senate in 2009.

Sarkozy intimated that Turkey should make the recognition before the end of his mandate in May next year.

France should face on past, Ankara says

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu instructed Burcuoğlu to express Ankara’s feelings and opinions in a strongly worded message to his French counterpart.

Alongside the diplomatic protest, senior members of the Turkish government harshly criticized Sarkozy’s stance and urged France to confront its colonial past before giving lessons to others.

“Those who will not be able to face their own history for having carried out colonialism for centuries, for treating foreigners as second-class people, do not have the right to teach Turkey a history lesson or call for Turkey to face its history. It will be very beneficial if France confronts its own history, particularly with African nations,” Davutoğlu told reporters Oct. 7.

Turkey could face its own history, but it is also a history of Turks and Armenians living together, Davutoğlu said.

“I consider such remarks [by Sarkozy] as political opportunism, and unfortunately such political opportunism is seen in Europe whenever there is an upcoming election,” Davutoğlu said.

Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bağış also criticized Sarkozy, saying the president would do better to concern himself with extricating France from its economic crisis rather than play historian on the Armenian question. “Our mission, as politicians, is not to define the past or past events. It is to define the future,” he was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency during a visit to Sarajevo.

‘Turkey does not belong in EU’

During his visit to Tbilisi on his tour, Sarkozy reiterated his opposition to Turkey’s accession to the European Union. “France does not see this country [Turkey] in the EU,” he said.

“Turkey has an important role in the world as it has been located in Asia Minor and is a bridge between West and East. But this role [of Turkey] does not cover the EU,” he said.

In the last leg of his Caucasus tour, Sarkozy visited Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey, from where he received a cold shoulder for his views on the genocide claims.

Ali Hasanov, a senior official at the Azerbaijani Presidency, said his country did not share Sarkozy’s views on the 1915 incidents, Anatolia reported.

Recalling that Turkey and Azerbaijan’s regional interests were similar, Hasanov said they hoped Sarkozy’s visit would help speed up efforts to solve the Nagorno-Karabkh dispute with Armenia.


Saturday, 8 October 2011

Hurriyet Daily News


Diplomatic Tensions Hit Franco-Turk Ties, 8 October 2011 Saturday 9:20

 

[silko]

haha, "peacemaker" nicolas sarkozy.

 

[RedBeard]

____________________________________________________________________________