Turkey, France to sign cooperation agreement to fight terrorism

PARIS (A.A) - October 4, 2011 - Turkey and France will sign next week an agreement to cooperate in countering terrorism.
French Interior Minister Claude Gueant will pay a two-day formal visit to the Turkish capital of Ankara beginning on October 6 as the guest of Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin.
Sahin and Gueant will sign an agreement on domestic security which will cover concrete cooperation mechanisms in combatting terrorism.
Once the presidential secretary general and President Nicolas Sarkozy's "right hand man," Gueant, will be received by Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
French Interior Minister Gueant will also meet Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay and European Union (EU) Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis.
France is staging intense operations against the terrorist organization PKK in for the last two years.
The Paris Court has recently tried 18 people, including top members of the terrorist organization in Europe. The prosecutor's office demanded prison terms ranging between six months and six years for the suspects, and requested that the headquarters of the terrorist organization in Paris be closed.
The court will make its verdict on the case on November 2.