Obama disagrees with Sarkozy on Turkey EU bid

(CAEN) - US President Barack Obama urged Europe on Saturday to reach out to Muslims around the world as he again disagreed with French President Nicolas Sarkozy over Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

Obama, who was praised this week for a speech seeking a new beginning in Western relations with the Islamic world, was asked about France's opposition to Turkish EU membership and its ban on Muslim veils in schools.

"I've said publicly that I think Turkish membership of the EU would be important," Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Sarkozy before they attended commemorations for the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in northern France.

"Now, President Sarkozy, as a member of the EU, has a different view," he said.

"What the US wants to do is just to encourage talks and discussions where Turkey can feel confident that it has a friendship with France, with the United States, with all of Europe and to the extent that it defines itself that it has an opportunity to be a part of that," he explained.

"In all of this, I think that Europe and France have a role to play just as the United States does, to send a signal to Muslims around the world that we welcome and want their participation in a world community that is peaceful, that is propserous, that is developing in favour of all people."

Sarkozy insisted that he and Obama agreed on the general principle of friendship with Turkey, but said France would continue to oppose Turkish membership of the European Union.

"We want Turkey to be a bridge between East and West," Sarkozy said.

"I told President Obama that it's very important for Europe to have borders. For me Europe is a force stability in the world and I cannot, allow that force for stabilisation to be destroyed," he said.

Turkey began EU membership talks in 2005, and has begun negotiations in 10 of the 35 policy areas that candidate countries must bring into line with EU rules. France and Germany lead opposition to its membership.

If negotiations succeed, Turkey, with 76 million people, would be the first major Muslim country. Albania with 3.6 million people is also a candidate.

The two leaders also differed on Obama's call for powers like France to lift bans on Muslim women wearing religious headscarves in state schools and certain government jobs.

"I won't take responsibility for how other countries are going to approach this. I will tell you that in the United States, our basic attitude is that we're not going to tell people what to wear," Obama said.

"My general view is that most effective way to integrate poeple of all faiths is to not try to suppress their traditions, but rather to open up opportunities," he explained.

Sarkozy said he had found Obama's speech "remarkable" and that he agreed on the need to end what he called the "clash of cultures between East and West", but again said France would go a different way.

"Civil servants must not wear any outward sign of their religion, whether they are Catholics, Jewish, Orthodox, Protestants or Muslims," he said.

"The second thing is a young woman can wear a head scarf provided that's a decision they took freely and not been forced on them by their family or their entourage," he said.

"France is a country where everybody can enjoy the convictions, but women are respected as is their autonomy."

The Muslim veil is a very sensitive issue in France, where several women's rights groups attacked Obama's speech. One feminist organisation called it a "slap in the face for millions of women".