Where does this Chirac-Turkey deal come from? Never heard of it. It would be quite astonishing, if true...
Just my guess. Chirac was desperately working behind the scenes to keep Saddam in power, because of all his corrupt connections, and it was also about this time that he started talking up the idea of letting Turkey into the EU. Naturally I'm not privy to conversations between Chirac and the Generals, and they are not the type to leak easily.