French president visits Turkey to restore ties

ANKARA - French President Francois Hollande will pay the first state visit to Turkey in 22 years on Monday, aiming to restore bilateral political and economic ties, said Turkish diplomatic sources.

Hollande will have talks in the capital of Ankara on Monday with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a bid to thaw in once-frosty ties of former president Nicholas Sarkozy era.

Turkey will urge the French president for support on opening European Union (EU) accession chapters 17, 22 and 23 for its membership negotiations in 2014.

As Hollande came to power in 2012, France lifted its blockage on one EU negotiation chapter and paved the way for resumption of stalled talks between the EU and Turkey.

His predecessor Sarkozy blocked five negotiation chapters of Turkey's EU membership talks, since he was against the country's bid for EU membership, therefore relations between Ankara and Paris strained.

The French president's expectation from the visit is to restore particularly the economic ties which was harmed during political strain between the two countries in the past years.  

The bilateral ties was harmed not only due to Sarkozy's political objection to Turkey's membership to the EU, but also French lawmakers attempted to endorse a law criminalizing the denial of claims of Armenian genocide, which is a long-term headache for relations between the two countries.

Hollande will travel to the Turkish largest city of Istanbul on Tuesday where he will participate in a business forum with a prominent businessmen delegation accompanying him.