Kouchner offers no change on French opposition to Turkey’s accession to EUOctober 12, 2010 - 13:59 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Despite applauding Turkey's pro-active foreign policy, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has signaled that his country has no intention of modifying its strong opposition to Turkey's accession to the European Union in the near future, Today's Zaman reported "No," Kouchner briefly replied when asked whether his two-day official visit to Turkey would make France change its position regarding Turkey's EU bid. "We want the chapters in negotiations to be opened one by one. We put reservations on [the opening of] some chapters. This [process] should be left to follow its natural course. It shouldn't move rapidly," Kouchner was quoted as saying in an interview with Hurriyet daily. Paris is one of the staunchest opponents of Turkey's accession to the EU, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy arguing that Turkey does not belong in Europe because it is culturally different, proposing instead a privileged partnership that falls short of membership in the 27-member bloc. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |