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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Dec 18 2011
The problem with France
FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK
[email protected]
Remarks made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday
calling on France, which has been pondering passing a law that
criminalizes denying that the 1915 deportation of Ottoman Armenians
was genocide, to question its own history was the topic some Turkish
columnists dwelled on this Sunday.
Erdoğan noted that France was guilty of many a genocide in its North
African colonies, and also responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide,
where 800,000 people were brutally killed by Hutu rebels backed by the
French government.
Sabah's Hasan Celal Güzel, also a former politician, shared the
opinions of Bülent Akarcalı, a former minister who served under a
Motherland Party (ANAP) government, on France's diminishing importance
in the world. According to them, France in the international arena has
significantly faded over the past few decades. "Not a single French
artist remains at the global level that would justify learning French
in the fields of literature, cinema, theater and even music in the
past 20 years," Güzel wrote, quoting Akarcalı.
He noted that there are many French high schools in Turkey, such as
St. Joseph, St. Michel. St Benoit, St. Pulchery or the Dame de Sion --
established during the Ottoman era. These are mostly very expensive
private schools. There are also French language schools that were
established in the republican era, sometimes with contributions from
Turks. Their alumni, however, have little chance of getting good jobs,
even at French firms, unless they learn a second and more useful
language, such as English or Russian. Most French companies in Turkey
now have executives who don't speak a word of French, he noted.
Güzel wrote that not only was France globally unimportant, but also
increasingly hostile toward Turkey. He pointed out that it is not only
the current French government's anti-Turkishness that is the problem,
but also that not a single group of French intellectuals or
businesspeople objected to Sarkozy's anti-Turkish proposal.
"It should be accepted as a natural consequence that nothing will
remain in the world of Turks and Turkey about France or the French
language," he said, and asked whether so many French-language schools
in Turkey were necessary. He said young people should be encouraged to
learn English and other world languages such as Spanish, Russian and
Chinese. "The best answer that Turkey, which has caught up with the
speed of the fast-changing globe, can give to France is to just ignore
it. Even reacting would just mean attaching too much importance to
it."
Bugün daily's Ahmet Taşgetiren in his column asserted that Sarkozy
needs Armenian votes for the next presidential election and that this
is why his government is attempting to pass a genocide denial law.
Taşgetiren said Sarkozy was using Turkey to increase his popularity.
He noted that Prime Minister Erdoğan wrote Sarkozy last week, warning
him against the "grave consequences" of passing a law that
criminalizes denying that the 1915 events were genocide. He said that,
in the face of the French government's hostility towards Turkey,
politicians and Turkish business organizations lobbying against the
bill should do something that will serve as a "cautionary tale" for
others. He did not suggest a particular course of action to punish
France, but urged both Turkish diplomats and the business world to
avoid employing "submissive" or reconciliatory language, as this would
be contrary to "the language that Sarkozy speaks."
Dec 18 2011
The problem with France
FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK
[email protected]
Remarks made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday
calling on France, which has been pondering passing a law that
criminalizes denying that the 1915 deportation of Ottoman Armenians
was genocide, to question its own history was the topic some Turkish
columnists dwelled on this Sunday.
Erdoğan noted that France was guilty of many a genocide in its North
African colonies, and also responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide,
where 800,000 people were brutally killed by Hutu rebels backed by the
French government.
Sabah's Hasan Celal Güzel, also a former politician, shared the
opinions of Bülent Akarcalı, a former minister who served under a
Motherland Party (ANAP) government, on France's diminishing importance
in the world. According to them, France in the international arena has
significantly faded over the past few decades. "Not a single French
artist remains at the global level that would justify learning French
in the fields of literature, cinema, theater and even music in the
past 20 years," Güzel wrote, quoting Akarcalı.
He noted that there are many French high schools in Turkey, such as
St. Joseph, St. Michel. St Benoit, St. Pulchery or the Dame de Sion --
established during the Ottoman era. These are mostly very expensive
private schools. There are also French language schools that were
established in the republican era, sometimes with contributions from
Turks. Their alumni, however, have little chance of getting good jobs,
even at French firms, unless they learn a second and more useful
language, such as English or Russian. Most French companies in Turkey
now have executives who don't speak a word of French, he noted.
Güzel wrote that not only was France globally unimportant, but also
increasingly hostile toward Turkey. He pointed out that it is not only
the current French government's anti-Turkishness that is the problem,
but also that not a single group of French intellectuals or
businesspeople objected to Sarkozy's anti-Turkish proposal.
"It should be accepted as a natural consequence that nothing will
remain in the world of Turks and Turkey about France or the French
language," he said, and asked whether so many French-language schools
in Turkey were necessary. He said young people should be encouraged to
learn English and other world languages such as Spanish, Russian and
Chinese. "The best answer that Turkey, which has caught up with the
speed of the fast-changing globe, can give to France is to just ignore
it. Even reacting would just mean attaching too much importance to
it."
Bugün daily's Ahmet Taşgetiren in his column asserted that Sarkozy
needs Armenian votes for the next presidential election and that this
is why his government is attempting to pass a genocide denial law.
Taşgetiren said Sarkozy was using Turkey to increase his popularity.
He noted that Prime Minister Erdoğan wrote Sarkozy last week, warning
him against the "grave consequences" of passing a law that
criminalizes denying that the 1915 events were genocide. He said that,
in the face of the French government's hostility towards Turkey,
politicians and Turkish business organizations lobbying against the
bill should do something that will serve as a "cautionary tale" for
others. He did not suggest a particular course of action to punish
France, but urged both Turkish diplomats and the business world to
avoid employing "submissive" or reconciliatory language, as this would
be contrary to "the language that Sarkozy speaks."