Erdogan to attend closing ceremony of Turkish Season in France

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Paris early next week for an official visit to attend the closing ceremony of Turkish Season events in France, as well as to hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other high-level officials. Erdogan's meetings with Sarkozy, his French counterpart Francois Fillion, Parliament Speaker Bernard Accoyer and Senate President Gerard Larcher will take place on Wednesday. Turkish-French relations, Turkey's European Union membership bid, and bilateral and regional matters will dominate his talks with top French officials. Erdogan is also expected to meet with representatives from the Movement of French Enterprises (MEDEF), and then address Turkish citizens living in France. The Turkish Season began in France last July in a bid to make Turkey better known among the French public, which is skeptical of Turkey's EU accession bid. Over 400 events took pace in a number of French cities as part of the nine-month long season.