In Besiktas, a small poster placarded on the window of a mini-market warns the customers: "Here we do not sell French products". In this district of Istanbul, it is the only shop to be protesting openly against the law penalizing the negation of the Armenian genocide, and make a sales point of it. Since the vote of the deputies, the popularity of France is in badly shape within the Turkish public opinion, but the retaliatory measures against the French economic interests remain limited.
The following day after the adoption of the text, some sporadic reactions were recorded through the country. Carrefour, number one of the big distribution, underwent a fall of its sales turnover, clear but momentary. Trucks posting the logo of a French trademark were destroyed. Customs annoyances slowed down the importation of vehicles. At the national level, the Union of the Turkish consumers, an organization close to the islamo-nationalists mediums, maintains the dispute while calling for the boycott a new French product each week.Total was the first victim and has been boycotted for a few days, but by a small part of its customers only. L'Oréal also suffered, and the last target indicated to the public is Tefal. The selected strategy seems to consist in reaching emblematic trademarks, strongly visible, explains one French diplomatic source. On the other hand, the companies who invested in the Turkish market are saved: Renault, which employs 4500 people, was thus not aimed. The insurer Centered, associated with Oyak, the powerful pension fund of the Turkish army, was also not aimed.
France is the 5th supplier of Turkey, and the two hundred French companies present on its ground employ 65000 Turks. Ankara could not penalize these major actors without suffering serious economic and social damage. Too hard reprisals would also endanger its candidature to the European Union. For all these reasons, the government privileged a contained reaction after the vote of the French Parliament. Publicly, the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, put aside a possible official call for the boycott, while stating that he wouldn't treat an injustice with another injustice. According to an economic expert, the government lets the active networks of the public opinion act in its place. They function as dissuasive weapons and serve its strategy. Thus, it is the TESK, the Turkish Confederation of the craftsmen and the small shopkeepers, who invited its members to do without French products. Even there, the watchword was weakly followed, except by the Federation of the bakers, which claimed the stop its French imports.
In fact, Ankara takes a wait and see position. Certainly, threats will be put at execution only if the French Senate votes for its turn the text on the penalization of the Armenian genocide. In this case, rather improbable, the French companies would be isolated. Areva, which undertook the construction of three nuclear thermal power stations (2 billion euros each one), is found in the first line. Just like Eurocopter, which received two invitations to tender for 102 helicopters for the army, or Alstom, very close to gain the contract for the materials which will equip Marmaray, a railway tunnel under the Bosphorus, for an amount of 700 million euros. In 2001, after the law on the recognition of the Armenian genocide, Thomson, Bouygues and Alcatel had been marginalized on the Turkish markets.
About the Author:
Marcus Laval is a senior analyst with an experience of more than 20 years, who has written more articles and published them at Press Centre
In Turkey, the French interests have been saved
