Turkey and France will establish mechanisms to jointly combat terror, organized crime, and human and drug smuggling as part of a rare substantive bilateral agreement inked on Thursday, October 6, which is a first of its kind for Turkey.

“The agreement has both technical and operational dimensions,” French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, who came to Turkey for official talks, told reporters in Ankara. “We will identify threats common to both countries. And we will move against them together. That would surely require joint operations as well.”

Gueant met with EU Minister Egemen Bağış and Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay and Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin. He will also be received by President Abdullah Gül on Friday, Hurriyet Daily News reported.