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ANKARA: Chirac Gives Full Supporrt To Armenian Claims Against Turkey

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  • ANKARA: Chirac Gives Full Supporrt To Armenian Claims Against Turkey

    CHIRAC GIVES FULL SUPPORRT TO ARMENIAN CLAIMS AGAINST TURKEY
    By Tuluhan Bahar (JTW)

    Journal of Turkish Weekly
    Oct 1 2006

    French President Jacques Chirac has called on Turkey to "recognize
    its past" in connection with Armenian historical claims, Chirac has
    given total support to the Armenian claims assuming Turkish approach
    is completely wrong.

    Chirac and his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian held a joint press
    conference on Saturday in the Armenian capital of Yerevan following
    their meeting. The two leaders accused Turkey of not recognizing the
    so-called Armenian genocide. Armenia argues that the 1915 clashes
    between the Turkish and Armenian forces was a genocide while the
    Turkish side claims more than 520,000 Turkish people were massacred
    by the Armenian armed forces.

    When asked if Turkey had to recognize the Armenian 'genocide' claims
    to join the European Union, Chirac stated "Honestly, I believe it
    does. Each country grows by acknowledging its dramas and mistakes of
    the past".

    ALGERIAN GENOCIDE AND ARMENIAN CLAIMS

    Chirac contradicted previous statements he made that writing history
    was the job of historians, not of the laws, when arguing against the
    claims that France killed more than 1,5 million of Algerians between
    1940 and 1962.

    Hosting president Kocharian answered more softly and said that a
    neighbor that had open borders and allowed free movement would be to
    the interests of his country. Turkey - Armenia territorial borders
    have been closed since Armenia occupied 20 percent of neighboring
    Azerbaijani territories including Karabakh province.

    'DIRTY GAMES'

    This recent move of Chirac is likely to strain relations between
    Turkey and France, which passed a bill in 2001 recognizing 1915
    clashes under the Ottoman Empire as "genocide". Some Turkish parties
    and societies made calls to boycott French goods in protest of the
    French President. Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from ISRO argued that the French
    preferred the Armenians to the Turkish people:

    "Chirac blame all Turkish people and the past instead of questioning
    what genocides and massacres they committed in Africa and other
    continents. The 1915 Events happened almost a century ago, but the
    French are speaking now. This is not a history matter but a well
    organized plan to halt Turkey's EU membership. I personally think
    that Turkey should not accept Armenian claims and should not join
    the European Union. Armenia, instead of Turkey, should join the EU.

    Because Armenia has better neighboring relations than Turkey according
    to the French President."

    A drafted bill, which, if passed, would a maximum punishment of a
    year's imprisonment and a fine of ~@45,000 for those who deny the
    existence of the "Armenian genocide", will be discussed and voted on
    in the French parliament on Oct. 12. Thus France who called Turkey to
    discuss openly the Armenian claims in Turkey, will ban any discussion
    about the Turkish-Armenian claims.

    On Wednesday, the European Parliament adopted a report critical on
    Turkey's accession to the European Union, dropping a clause that
    would have made recognition of the Armenian claims a pre-condition
    for Turkey's membership. However, the parliament called on Turkey
    to "acknowledge the (so-called) Armenian genocide." The European
    Parliament and Mr. Chirac did never mention the occupied Azeri
    territories. More than 20 percent of Azeri territories have been
    occupied by the Armenian forces and more than 1 million Azerbaijani
    Turks have been refugees for more than a decade.

    Armenia does not recognize Turkey's and Azerbaijan's national
    borders. About 50.000 Armenia Armenians, apart from 100,000 Turkey
    Armenians, live and work in Turkey, mainly in Istanbul city. Armenia
    has thorny relations with its almost all neighbors, Turkey, Georgia
    and Azerbaijan.

    WHAT ARE ARMENIAN CLAIMS?

    When the Ottoman Empire was in the First World War, some of the
    Armenian Ottomans rioted against their own State and made co-operation
    with the enemies, namely Russians and French. When the Russian forces
    entered the Eastern Anatolia, the Armenians also occupied some of
    the Ottoman towns, like Van. As a result of riots and occupations
    the Istanbul Government too the decision of Relocation (tehcir) of
    the Eastern Armenians. The aim of the decision was to transfer the
    Armenian population from the war theater to the safer Syria province
    of the State. Unfortunately the implementation of the decision became
    a tragedy when the Ottoman soldiers could not protect the civilian
    Armenians. Thousands of Armenian died due to the ethnic attacks from
    the Kurdish tribal gangs, bad whether, famine and epidemic diseases. On
    the other hand more than 520.000 Muslims were massacred by the Armenian
    gangs in order to Armenify the region. The Armenian nationalist aim
    was to establish their own state on the Eastern Ottoman State. When
    the First World War ended the Armenians declared that they were the
    side of this war and they should be in the peace talks as part of
    allies. However Turkey was established in 1923 and Armenians failed
    in establishing greater Armenia.

    Armenians claim that the Turks wanted to remove all the Armenians
    from the Anatolian territories in 1915 and call the events
    as genocide. Turkey does not accept the claims and says a joint
    commission should be established to discuss the historical disputes
    while the Armenian side rejected the offer. According to Armenia
    "there is nothing to be discussed"

    WHAT IS ALGERIAN GENOCIDE?

    Approximately 1.5 million Algerian Muslim Arabs were tortured and
    massacred under the French rule according to the Algerian sources
    1.5 million dead, while French officials estimated it at 350,000.

    [http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/alpha/al geria1954.htm Algeria
    Independence France 1954-1962] Algerians argue that the massacres
    should be named as genocide and France must apologize from the
    Algerians. However the French do not accept the claims. Algeria's
    President Abdelaziz Bouteflika says that French colonization
    of his country Algeria was a form of genocide. In memoirs, some
    French officers have described torture of Algerians during the war,
    however France has never accepted its responsibility in tortures
    and massacres in Algeria. Paris says that the past should be
    left to historians. French President Jacques Chirac, upon harsh
    reactions to the law encouraging the good sides of the French
    colonial history, made the statement, "Writing history is the job
    of the historians, not of the laws." Writing history is the job of
    the historians" According to Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin,
    "speaking about the past or writing history is not the job of the
    parliament."[http://www.zaman.com/?bl=int ernational&alt=&trh=20051210&hn=27378
    France in Favor of So-Called Genocide Resorts to Historians]

    The Algerian president Bouteflika said in a speech in Paris on 17
    April 2006 "We no longer know whether we are Berbers (indigenous North
    Africans), Arabs, Europeans or French. France committed a genocide
    of Algerian identity during the colonial era. Colonisation brought
    the genocide of our identity, of our history, of our language, of our
    traditions."(http://news.scotsman.com/int ernational.cfm?id=583792006
    Algerian leader calls colonisation 'genocide', Scotsman)

    Algeria first became a colony of France in 1830. After a war which
    ended in Algeria's independence in 1962, eight million Algerian
    residents were deprived of French nationality and hundreds of thousands
    of 'pieds noir' (French who settled in Algeria and were re-patriated
    at the end of the war) were forced home to a place which was not home.

    Algeria called on France to apologise in 2005 for crimes committed
    during the colonial era. Bouteflika also urged Paris to admit its
    part in the massacres of 45,000 Algerians who took to the streets to
    demand independence as Europe celebrated victory over Nazi Germany in
    1945. French authorities then responded by playing down the comments,
    urging "mutual respect".

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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