Turkey aims to bar France in mideast

Turkey's far-reaching measures against France over the adoption of a controversial "genocide" bill aim to limit French influence in the Middle East and Caucasus rather than reverse Paris' attitude to the motion. "France has intense ties with so many countries in our neighborhood," a Turkish diplomat recently told the Hurriyet Daily News. "They gained a great advantage in reaching out to these regions using the blanket permission we have long provided to them [to conduct flights over Turkish territory]. Now they will lose time and money in doing so." "The sanctions will continue to be valid until the Turkish government says the opposite," a Turkish diplomat said. Syria and Lebanon still have close ties with Paris, but Turkey will try to complicate that picture. A very important detail suggeststhat these sanctions are not goingto be removed even if France retreatsfrom its position and quashesthe genocide bill in the Senate. "The sanctions will continue to bevalid until the Turkish governmentsays the opposite," a Turkish diplomatrecently told the Hurriyet DailyNews.The political storm between Turkeyand France will also have ramificationsin the Caucasus, developmentssuggest. Even before theadoption of the law, Turkish ForeignMinister Ahmet Davutoglucomplained about France's membershipin the Minsk Group at ameeting with Lamberto Zannier,secretary-general of the Organizationfor Security and Co-operationin Europe (OSCE)."We have made clear to theOSCE secretary-general that Francemembership in the OSCE [MinskGroup] would damage the group'sworks as Paris openly took sideswith the Armenians on this issuedue to strong pressure from the Armeniandiaspora," a diplomat toldthe Daily News.