France will overcome this crisis 'through republican values': Former Turkish ambassador

As a country that gives high priority to fundamental freedoms, France is facing difficulty in striking a balance between freedom and security, a former Turkish ambassador to Paris has told the Hürriyet Daily News. 

Shaken by two bloody attacks over the course of the past 10 months, France will be able to overcome its challenges by upholding the values of the Republic, which endorse fundamental freedoms, said Tahsin Burcuo?lu, who served as Turkey's ambassador to France until last year. The situation is particularly delicate at the moment because the attacks occurred amid a general rise in Islamophobia in France, Burcuo?lu added.

First the Charlie Hebdo attack and now the recent ones in Paris. Why France is being targeted?

There is suitable ground in France. There are 6.5 to 7 million Muslims living there, of whom 600,000 are Turks. People who come to France are given significant social security rights, which also makes France attractive for migration.

France also still has an intense interaction with West Africa and its soldiers are deployed in many countries. It has a serious interest in the Middle East. While in the past this interest was focused in Syria and Lebanon, now France is opening up to the Gulf states within the framework of exporting its defense industry products.

In addition, France is a country of freedoms, and it has great difficulty striking a balance between freedoms and security. You can't introduce certain security measures as easily as you can in authoritarian countries. Related to this, France receives 85 million tourists every year, and with the exception of Switzerland it is surrounded by Schengen countries. So it is very easy to come in and out of the country.

The French intelligence and...