History, cultural identity and difference: the issue of Turkey's accession to the European Union in the French national press

After four decades of strenuous attempts to join the European Union (EU) and a period of intense negotiations and political manoeuvring, Turkey finally managed to secure an agreement with the EU to open membership negotiations on 4 October 2005. This decision taken in Brussels was hailed by Abdullah Gül, the Turkish Foreign Minister, as a ‘historic moment’ and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that it represented a ‘giant leap’ for Turkey. Turkey was, to some extent, rewarded for the wide-ranging reforms that it has adopted over the 45 years since its decision to be part of the European project but also for the Western-inspired cultural, political and social transformation the country has experienced since the early years of the Kemalist era in the 1920s. In the final months of 2004, the issue of whether or not Turkey should be granted the right to start negotiations triggered heated debates in the French political and media scenes about the validity of allowing ‘in our midst’ a nation that many viewed as the quintessential ‘other’. The arguments that were exchanged divided politicians, journalists and other intellectuals across traditional political lines. Whilst Jacques Chirac remained in favour of Turkish membership, Conservative members of Parliament from Chirac’s majority and led by Philippe Pézemec called for a ‘national mobilization’ against Turkish entry to the EU. Ex-President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who had recently chaired the Convention on the European Constitution, declared himself against Turkey’s bid as did, on the left, ex-Socialist Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and Member of Parliament Manuel Valls, thereby challenging the Socialist Party’s generally favourable stance on Turkey’s entry.