France–Turkey relations cover a long period from the 16th century to the present, starting with the alliance established between Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent. Relations remained essentially friendly during a period of nearly three centuries, with the resumption of intense contacts from the reign of Louis XIV. Relations became more complex with the French campaign in Egypt and Syria by Napoleon I in 1798, and the dawn of the modern era. Both countries are members of the Council of Europe and NATO. France is an EU member and Turkey is an EU candidate. France opposes Turkey's accession negotiations to the EU, although negotiations have now been suspended.

During the Algerian War, Turkey under the administration of Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes supported France and voted in favor of France during UN votes between 1954 and 1960 against the Algerian insurrection.

History Battle of Nicopolis

In 1396, Jean Le Maingre, the Marshal of France, took part in the joint French–Hungarian crusade against the Ottoman Turks, which suffered a heavy defeat on September 28 at the Battle of Nicopolis. He was taken hostage by the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I, but, unlike many of his companions, escaped execution and was eventually ransomed. From France, it was said about 5,000 knights and squires joined, and were accompanied by 6,000 archers and foot soldiers drawn from the best volunteer and mercenary companies; totalling some 11,000 men.A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle ... , by Spencer C. Tucker, 2009 p.316 Philip of Artois, Count of Eu, the Constable of France, was captured in the battle, and subsequently died in captivity.

Franco-Ottoman alliance

The Franco-Ottoman alliance, also Franco-Turkish alliance, was an alliance established in 1536 between the king of France Francis I and the Turkish sultan of the Ottoman Empire Suleiman the Magnificent. The objective for Francis I was to find an ally against the Habsburgs (see French–Habsburg rivalry and Ottoman–Habsburg wars). King Francis was imprisoned in Madrid when the first efforts at establishing an alliance were made. A first French mission to Suleiman seems to have been sent right after the Battle of Pavia by the mother of Francis I Louise de Savoie, but the mission was lost on its way in Bosnia.Merriman, p.129

In December 1525 a second mission was sent, led by John Frangipani, which managed to reach Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, with secret letters asking for the deliverance of king Francis I and an attack on the Habsburg. Frangipani returned with an answer from Suleiman, on 6 February 1526:. Top-level strategic relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of France started during the reigns of Süleyman the Magnificent and the Valois king Francis I in the first quarter of the 16th century, at a time when the French king was in critical need of alliance and assistance from the Ottoman Sultan. The contacts were further enhanced, especially in a commercial viewpoint, with the capitulations granted by the sultan in 1535 and starting with Jean de la Forest in that year, France had an ambassadorial representative in Turkey ever since. These privileged trading conditions were to mark the relations, both in commercial terms and beyond, till their abolition with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, and to gradually increasing disadvantage and decreasing leverage for the Ottomans.

Relations during the Ottoman decline

In 1663, the Ottomans launched a disastrous invasion of the Habsburg Monarchy, ending at the Battle of St. Gotthard. The battle was won by the Christians, chiefly through the attack of 6,000 French troops led by La Feuillade and Coligny.Count Miklós Zrínyi, the Poet-Warlord

In 1669, during the siege of Candia, the French prince Francois de Beaufort led the French troops defending the Venetian-ruled Candia (modern Heraklion, Crete) against the Ottoman Turks.

The Barbary slave trade and Ottoman corsairs originating from Ottoman Algeria were a major problem throughout the centuries, leading to regular punitive expeditions by France (1661, 1665, 1682, 1683, 1688). French admiral Abraham Duquesne fought the Barbary corsairs in 1681 and bombarded Algiers between 1682 and 1683, to help Christian captives.

The intensity of the contacts is demonstrated by the opening of up to forty French consulates, often focused on trade relations, in Ottoman lands in the 18th century. The first Turkish representative invested with an extended period mission to the Parisian court was Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi, in the beginning of the 18th century, at a time when the Ottoman Empire sought to grasp the reasons for its loss of prominence as compared to the European powers.

The two countries have been in a state of war three times. The first time was during Napoleon's Egypt-Syria campaign in 1798–1800. The second time was during the First World War, especially in Gallipoli campaigns where the French forces were comparatively less heavily invested than British and ANZAC troops, and the last time between 1919 and 1921 in the phase of the Turkish War of Independence, in what is generally termed as the Cilicia War, where the conflicts were often localized and sporadic in character, and the diplomatic pourparlers were being pursued during the very occurrence of the clashes. With the Accord of Ankara signed on 20 October 1921 between the two countries, France became the first western power to abandon the claims that had been instituted by the Treaty of Sèvres and effectively recognize the new Turkish governments based in Ankara.

French support for Kurdish rebellions against Turkey (1921-1946) After World War I and France's loss in the Cilicia War, the French started supporting Kurdish independence movements in Turkey.YAMAÇ, M. (2024). Fransız Arşiv Belgelerinde Hoybun Cemiyetinin Faaliyetleri. Journal of Modern Turkish History Studies/Cumhuriyet Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi (CTAD), 20(41). In 1925, during the Sheikh Said Rebellion, the rebels rejected French aid and sought help from the Soviets instead. As such, the French allowed the Turkish Army to use railways in French Syria, which were used to crush the rebellion.Ülgül, M. (2015). Militarization of ethnic conflict in Turkey, Israel and Pakistan (Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware). 74, 76. However, the French High Commissioner later let Kurdish refugees into their colonies. Later, a "dissatisfied Kurdish chief" expressed himself as such to the French government: "If the [Turkish] government had only punished the guilty after the affair of Sheikh Said, the Kurds would have made their submission, but the men of Ankara had innocents massacred; it is from now on between them and us a fight to the death".CADN, Fonds Beyrouth, Cabinet Politique, no. 1054. Information no. 881/51. Beirut, October 6, 1927, p. 1.

In 1926, the French began the "Terrier Plan" a set of unofficial initiatives devised by a French officer, Captain Pierre Terrier, in Syria to favor the Kurds and advance French policy in the Levant.Gorgas, J. T. (2007). The Terrier Plan and the emergence of a Kurdish policy under the French Mandate in Syria, 1926-1936. The International Journal of Kurdish Studies, 21(1/2): 93–113. France welcomed Kurdish refugees as a means of putting diplomatic pressure on Turkey. The plan included the nomination of Kurdish functionaries, the constitution of a Kurdish-composed French battalion, the creation of Kurdish language courses and the publication of the Kurdish journal Hawar. Turkey warned against France's collaboration with an "enemy" of Ankara, but the Terrier Plan continued, despite Turkish protests.

In the following years, up to 1927, the Turkish government complained to French authorities about Kurdish trans-borders incursions. In 1927, Xoybûn was established, with the support of France, and the Ararat rebellion was headquartered in French Syria. France secretly gave protection to Kurdish rebels and also allowed Armenians to settle along the Turkish/Syrian frontier. They also secretly supplied the rebels with weapons, ammunition and funds.

İsmet İnönü authored a report in 1935 summarized as such by historian Murat Ülgül: "He maintained that the French attempted to occupy Turkey’s southeastern cities such as Mardin, Urfa, Antep and Maras to control Syria in the pre-war period, but they failed; yet, this region was still important in their mind. To maintain French influence in the region, Inonu holds, its agents would not hesitate to use Kurdish tribes, as well as border smugglers, to prove that existing borders are uncontrollable. Against this policy, Inonu recommended using Arab tribes against France and expressed that seeing the French as an enemy must be a permanent feeling among the [Turkish] settlers in Turkey’s southeast".

In 1938, the French swiftly encouraged and supported the Dersim Rebellion, in order to prevent Turkey from annexing Hatay from France. French officials in Syria conducted activities promising funds, weapons and ammunition to Kurdish tribal leaders to incite the rebellion, but, ultimately, no material support was given. Nevertheless, the French decided to let Kurdish rebels and refugees settle in French Syria, again as a diplomatic "tool" against Turkey.

Expansion of French language in Turkey French is the language associated with the Tanzimat period of reforms (1839–1876) in Turkish history. Apart from those involved in politics and diplomacy, also the authors and their immediate public during the various successive stages of modern Turkish literature overwhelmingly had the French language as their primary Western reference. Its preponderance as the first foreign language acquired by members of Turkey's educated classes lasted well into the Republic of Turkey, in fact until quite recently. Currently, English is the overwhelmingly popular choice amongst Turks learning a foreign language, having supplanted French long ago. Although there are fewer Turks today who learn French as their sole foreign language, its knowledge is still very well represented among the intelligentsia and as such, highly valued, often considered a privilege by those who have command of it.

According to a 2006 European Commission report, 3% of Turkish residents are able to carry on a conversation in French. The recently growing immigrant communities of Turkish origin, at all levels of the society, in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada also helped strengthen the position of the knowledge of French in Turkey, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. In Canada, the vast majority of Turkish-Canadians are settled in anglophone areas, limiting their exposure to the French language.

Accession of Turkey to the European Union

In 2004, President Jacques Chirac said that France will hold a referendum on Turkey's entry into the EU when the issue arises, and any further EU enlargement will also be subject to a popular vote.

In 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated that "Turkey has no place inside the European Union." Sarkozy continued, "I want to say that Europe must give itself borders, that not all countries have a vocation to become members of Europe, beginning with Turkey which has no place inside the European Union."

France's position on Turkey's EU accession was unchanged a decade later. In 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that “ As far as the relationship with the European Union is concerned, it is clear that recent developments and choices do not allow any progression of the process in which we are engaged”.

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