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"French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has responded to Turkey's request for France's help in their EU bid with a two-day visit to the country.
Joined by his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in a joint news Kouchner said France is willing to help Turkey.
Kouchner said France is ready, as the Turkish foreign minister has asked for help. In this position there are three more policy areas that can be opened for negotiations to help Turkey to get closer to the EU.
Koucher was referring to the chapters on social policy, employment and competition, 3 of just 35 chapters that Turkey must complete negotiations on in order to join the EU. Turkey has successfully opened only 13 chapters and closed just 1 (Science & Research) since becoming an EU applicant in 2005. Many of the chapters cannot be closed because they are blocked by France and other opposing countries.
Thank fully EU membership is no longer such a big deal for investors in Turkish property and other investments, says Tolga OZCAN, director of New Home in Turkey.
"The Turkish economy enjoyed double-digit growth in both the first and second quarters, with 11.7% growth in the first quarter and 10.3% in the second quarter, compared to growth of 0.7% and 2% respectively for the EU27," he said. "During this time the biggest growth was recorded in Slovakia with 4.6% in Q1 and 5% in Q2."
He continued: "On top of that the European banking infrastructure is in disarray, with severe doubts over exactly what levels of bad loans still exist in Spanish, German, Irish and other banks. Compare this to Turkey's banking system, which, heavily reformed in 2001 is in incredibly good shape."
