Tweet
'FRANCE YET TO FULFILL ITS HUMANITARIAN DUTY TOWARD ALGERIA'
Today's Zaman
Dec 20 2011
Turkey
The Sarkozy-led French government is yet to agree to a demand made
by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2006 to apologize
for French-organized massacres, amounting to genocide, during
its century-long colonial rule in Algeria, according to Abdenour
Boukhemkhem, Secretary General of National Federation of Algerian
Journalists and a senior journalist at the prominent Algerian
Echorouk daily.
Algeria became a French colony in 1830 and later fought a war of
independence from 1954-1962 against France, leaving 1.5 million
Algerians dead out of a population of 9 million. However, a 1962
agreement with France that gave Algeria its independence prevented
both Algeria and France from seeking future compensation for deaths
and other losses. Boukhemkhem explained French activities in Algeria
in detail and said that Algerian independence was not the end of
French violence.
"France first acquired nuclear weapons in 1960. Many of these weapons
were tested on Algerian soil, causing more than 100,000 deaths in
Algeria. Diseases coming out of these nuclear tests still occur in
Algeria, like cancer, physical deformation and so on," he stated. In
addition, French military forces planted land mines and electrical
cables in an area from western Algeria to the Tunisian border during
the Algeria struggle, in order to block external help to Algeria,
he claimed, which continues to kill many Algerians in the area.
Bouteflika, the Algerian president since 1999, also demanded, in
addition to monetary compensation, another apology from the Sarkozy
government in 2006 for France's bloody activities in Algeria and was
widely supported by Algerian civil society organizations and human
rights activists. Citing this fact in his exclusive interview with
Today's Zaman, Boukhemkhem stated that the Sarkozy administration,
which is trying to enact a bill criminalizing the denial of the
"Armenian genocide," did not apologize in any way. He claimed that the
French left and right, who disagree on almost every political issue,
were in consensus on denying the Algerian massacres. He explained
the reasons behind this, saying that "Sarkozy has an important
amount of voters from the far right and he does not want to lose
them by causing arguments on the French massacre. Other than that,
he does not want to pay the financial costs of such an admission,"
emphasizing that the French government "did not fulfill an important
humanitarian responsibility to the Algerian people."
The French parliament is preparing to debate a bill penalizing the
denial of claims that Armenians were subject to genocide at the hands
of the late Ottoman Empire during World War I. Turkey, which denies
the genocide charges, has angrily protested the French plans and told
France to look at its bloody colonial past instead.
Boukhemkhem claimed that the initiative for the bill on Armenian
genocide denial does not stem from human rights concerns, deeming it
a mere political decision. "Sarkozy has wanted to block Turkey's EU
integration since the beginning of his term, and he was doing that
by accusing Turkey of insufficient democratization. Facing the fact
that the current Turkish government fulfilled many EU recommendations
on democracy, France began to seek alternatives to discussion of
Turkey's democratic deficiencies, to block Turkish integration,"
he said, depicting this bill as an example.
Additionally, he claimed that France is disturbed by Turkey's
successful economic and political activities on the African continent,
noting that as another cause behind the bill. He praised the Turkish
businesses starting to take their hold in many African countries,
including Algeria, where French companies dominate the economy.
Turkish investments in Algeria, amounting to $1 billion annually,
are made predominantly in the fields in construction, agricultural
production, industry and education and employ nearly 20,000 Algerians.
Today's Zaman
Dec 20 2011
Turkey
The Sarkozy-led French government is yet to agree to a demand made
by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2006 to apologize
for French-organized massacres, amounting to genocide, during
its century-long colonial rule in Algeria, according to Abdenour
Boukhemkhem, Secretary General of National Federation of Algerian
Journalists and a senior journalist at the prominent Algerian
Echorouk daily.
Algeria became a French colony in 1830 and later fought a war of
independence from 1954-1962 against France, leaving 1.5 million
Algerians dead out of a population of 9 million. However, a 1962
agreement with France that gave Algeria its independence prevented
both Algeria and France from seeking future compensation for deaths
and other losses. Boukhemkhem explained French activities in Algeria
in detail and said that Algerian independence was not the end of
French violence.
"France first acquired nuclear weapons in 1960. Many of these weapons
were tested on Algerian soil, causing more than 100,000 deaths in
Algeria. Diseases coming out of these nuclear tests still occur in
Algeria, like cancer, physical deformation and so on," he stated. In
addition, French military forces planted land mines and electrical
cables in an area from western Algeria to the Tunisian border during
the Algeria struggle, in order to block external help to Algeria,
he claimed, which continues to kill many Algerians in the area.
Bouteflika, the Algerian president since 1999, also demanded, in
addition to monetary compensation, another apology from the Sarkozy
government in 2006 for France's bloody activities in Algeria and was
widely supported by Algerian civil society organizations and human
rights activists. Citing this fact in his exclusive interview with
Today's Zaman, Boukhemkhem stated that the Sarkozy administration,
which is trying to enact a bill criminalizing the denial of the
"Armenian genocide," did not apologize in any way. He claimed that the
French left and right, who disagree on almost every political issue,
were in consensus on denying the Algerian massacres. He explained
the reasons behind this, saying that "Sarkozy has an important
amount of voters from the far right and he does not want to lose
them by causing arguments on the French massacre. Other than that,
he does not want to pay the financial costs of such an admission,"
emphasizing that the French government "did not fulfill an important
humanitarian responsibility to the Algerian people."
The French parliament is preparing to debate a bill penalizing the
denial of claims that Armenians were subject to genocide at the hands
of the late Ottoman Empire during World War I. Turkey, which denies
the genocide charges, has angrily protested the French plans and told
France to look at its bloody colonial past instead.
Boukhemkhem claimed that the initiative for the bill on Armenian
genocide denial does not stem from human rights concerns, deeming it
a mere political decision. "Sarkozy has wanted to block Turkey's EU
integration since the beginning of his term, and he was doing that
by accusing Turkey of insufficient democratization. Facing the fact
that the current Turkish government fulfilled many EU recommendations
on democracy, France began to seek alternatives to discussion of
Turkey's democratic deficiencies, to block Turkish integration,"
he said, depicting this bill as an example.
Additionally, he claimed that France is disturbed by Turkey's
successful economic and political activities on the African continent,
noting that as another cause behind the bill. He praised the Turkish
businesses starting to take their hold in many African countries,
including Algeria, where French companies dominate the economy.
Turkish investments in Algeria, amounting to $1 billion annually,
are made predominantly in the fields in construction, agricultural
production, industry and education and employ nearly 20,000 Algerians.