by Cem Oguz, head of the Turkish Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The remarks made (prior to, and during, his official visit to Southern Caucasian countries last month) by President Nicholas Sarkozy regarding the “Armenian genocide,” brought an interesting debate to mind that erupted in 2006 between Algiers and France.
Perhaps you will well remember: The French National Assembly's approval in 2005 of a law claiming French colonialism played a positive role in history was responsible in 2006 for substantial tension between the two countries. The Algerian government officially called on France to apologize for crimes committed during its colonial rule. On the 60th anniversary of the massacres, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika not only condemned the French Army's attack on the cities of Setif and Guelma in May 1945, which claimed the lives of 45,000 Algerians, but also called on Paris to act responsibly. The most interesting remarks, however, came from Amar Bakhouche, then Algerian Senate speaker. Speaking to AB Haber.com at the time, Bakhouche complained about Western impositions on less developed or developing countries and urged France to clean up its own backyard before getting involved in the Armenian allegations. He then criticized the French standpoint on Turkey's EU membership bid, arguing that a Muslim population is undesired in the European Union.
Since then various French politicians have made statements that add a great deal of weight to the widely expressed view that "history should be left to historians." Then French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, for instance, stated historians from both Algeria and France had to be encouraged to work together. But the same Barnier reminded Turkey of its duty to come to terms with its past and urged it to recognize the Armenian "genocide." He underlined that France didn't consider Turkish acknowledgement of that a precondition for EU entry, but insisted his country would raise the issue once talks opened.
In 2006, to set a new course in turbulent Franco-Algerian relations, then French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy made an official visit to Algeria. Signing a delayed friendship accord between the two countries that, according to analysts, resembled the 1963 Franco-German reconciliation treaty, was to be the most crucial undertaking on Douste-Blazy's trip. For the French government such a treaty would have been a move to patch up relations. Yet the treaty wasn't signed, on the pretext that both parties needed more time to strike a deal. More importantly, a week after the French foreign minister's visit, Bouteflika accused France of having committed genocide during its occupation of Algeria which lasted for 132 years. According to the Algerian president, this genocide "was not only against the Algerian people but also against Algerian identity."
The remarks of Bouteflika, who subsequent to his speech went to France for medical treatment at a military hospital, stirred up substantial discontent in French domestic politics. Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, himself with a dubious record of service in the Algerian War, argued that accusing France of having committed genocide of Algerian identity not only had no historical meaning but was also an unfounded insult aimed at the country. Right-wing nationalist Movement of France leader Philippe de Villiers attacked the French government for what he described as its cowardice for refusing to comment on Bouteflika's remarks. Last, but not least, Lionnel Luca, then a deputy from the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Party, portrayed Bouteflika's visit as "indecent," adding that allegedly it wasn't the first time the Algerian president had insulted France.
Douste-Blazy, too, wasn't late in responding. He accused the Algerian president of engaging in polemics. According to the then French foreign minister, colonialism had had a positive role as well. Supposedly, the much-complained horrors took place only at the beginning of the conquest. He then concluded that the recently-invented term "genocide," as taught by philosophers and intellectuals such as Primo Levi, should never be "overused."
Well, what do you all think? Is this also a denial by the French? Is Mr. Sarkozy simply the proto-type of populist French politicians in that regard?
C. Cem Oguz This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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