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TURKEY SLAMS FRANCE OVER GENOCIDE DEBATE
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/23/4142084/turkey-now-accuses-slams-france.html
Dec 23 2011
CA
ISTANBUL -- Turkey responded to French genocide allegations with
a charge of its own Friday, accusing France of committing genocide
during its colonial occupation of Algeria.
French lawmakers passed a bill Thursday making it a crime to deny that
the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks constitute genocide.
The deepening acrimony between two strategic allies and trading
partners could have repercussions far beyond the settling of accounts
over some of the bloodiest episodes of the past century.
Turkey was already frustrated by French opposition to its stalled
European Union bid, and hopes for Western-backed rapprochement between
Turkey and Armenia seem ever more distant ahead of 2015, the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian killings.
The bill strikes at the heart of national honor in Turkey, which
maintains there was no systematic campaign to kill Armenians and
that many Turks also died during the chaotic disintegration of the
Ottoman Empire.
The French bill still needs Senate approval, but after it passed
the lower house, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
halted bilateral political and economic contacts, suspended
military cooperation and ordered his country's ambassador home for
consultations.
Turkey and France worked closely together during NATO's operation
against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and had been coordinating
policy on Syria and Afghanistan.
"What the French did in Algeria was genocide," Erdogan said Friday in
a heavily personal speech, laced with criticism of French President
Nicolas Sarkozy.
He alleged that beginning in 1945, about 15 percent of the population
of Algeria was massacred by the French. He also said Algerians were
burned in ovens.
"They were mercilessly martyred," he said.
Erdogan appeared to be referring to allegations that the French burned
the dead in ovens after a 1945 uprising that began in the Algerian
town of Setif. Algerians say some 45,000 people may have died. French
figures say up to 20,000.
The French bill's passage "is a clear example of how racism,
discrimination and anti-Muslim sentiment have reached new heights
in France and in Europe," Erdogan said. "French President Sarkozy's
ambition is to win an election based on promoting animosity against
Turks and Muslims."
France holds presidential elections in April.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the French vote was
comparable to attempts by Mideast rulers to stifle free speech.
"Europe has philosophically and ideologically reverted to the Middle
Ages," Davutoglu said at a conference of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara,
the capital.
The French Foreign Ministry said the statements from Turkey were
unhelpful and below the belt.
"We deplore the recourse to excess and to personal attacks which are
not at the level of the stakes or the mutual interest of our ties,"
a ministry statement said.
Paris "assumes with lucidity and transparency its duty of memory in
the face of tragedies which marked its history," the statement said,
an allusion to France's admission that the state had a role in the
deportation of Jews to Nazi death camps, and apparently a veiled nod
to its past in Algeria, which gained independence in 1962 after a
brutal seven-year war.
France formally recognized the Armenian killings as genocide in 2001,
but had previously provided no penalty for anyone refuting that. The
bill sets a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of
euro45,000 ($59,000) for those who deny or "outrageously minimize"
the killings, putting such action on par with denial of the Holocaust.
France is committed to human rights and respect for "historical
memory," Sarkozy said in Prague, where he was attending the funeral of
Vaclav Havel, the dissident who became president of the Czech Republic.
"France doesn't give lessons to anyone, but France also doesn't
plan on taking them," Sarkozy said in a clip shown on France's LCI
television. "I respect the convictions of our Turkish friends - it's a
grand country, a grand civilization - and they must respect ours. To
cede on one's convictions is always cowardice, and one always ends
up by paying for cowardice."
Most historians contend the Ottoman killings of up to 1.5 million
Armenians constituted the first genocide of the 20th century. But
the issue is dicey for any government that wants a strong alliance
with Turkey, a rising power. In Washington, President Barack Obama
has stopped short of calling the killings genocide.
The Armenian National Committee of America said the French vote
"reinforces the growing international consensus - and the mounting
pressure on Turkey - for a truthful and just resolution of the
Armenian Genocide."
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/23/4142084/turkey-now-accuses-slams-france.html
Dec 23 2011
CA
ISTANBUL -- Turkey responded to French genocide allegations with
a charge of its own Friday, accusing France of committing genocide
during its colonial occupation of Algeria.
French lawmakers passed a bill Thursday making it a crime to deny that
the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks constitute genocide.
The deepening acrimony between two strategic allies and trading
partners could have repercussions far beyond the settling of accounts
over some of the bloodiest episodes of the past century.
Turkey was already frustrated by French opposition to its stalled
European Union bid, and hopes for Western-backed rapprochement between
Turkey and Armenia seem ever more distant ahead of 2015, the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian killings.
The bill strikes at the heart of national honor in Turkey, which
maintains there was no systematic campaign to kill Armenians and
that many Turks also died during the chaotic disintegration of the
Ottoman Empire.
The French bill still needs Senate approval, but after it passed
the lower house, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
halted bilateral political and economic contacts, suspended
military cooperation and ordered his country's ambassador home for
consultations.
Turkey and France worked closely together during NATO's operation
against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and had been coordinating
policy on Syria and Afghanistan.
"What the French did in Algeria was genocide," Erdogan said Friday in
a heavily personal speech, laced with criticism of French President
Nicolas Sarkozy.
He alleged that beginning in 1945, about 15 percent of the population
of Algeria was massacred by the French. He also said Algerians were
burned in ovens.
"They were mercilessly martyred," he said.
Erdogan appeared to be referring to allegations that the French burned
the dead in ovens after a 1945 uprising that began in the Algerian
town of Setif. Algerians say some 45,000 people may have died. French
figures say up to 20,000.
The French bill's passage "is a clear example of how racism,
discrimination and anti-Muslim sentiment have reached new heights
in France and in Europe," Erdogan said. "French President Sarkozy's
ambition is to win an election based on promoting animosity against
Turks and Muslims."
France holds presidential elections in April.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the French vote was
comparable to attempts by Mideast rulers to stifle free speech.
"Europe has philosophically and ideologically reverted to the Middle
Ages," Davutoglu said at a conference of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara,
the capital.
The French Foreign Ministry said the statements from Turkey were
unhelpful and below the belt.
"We deplore the recourse to excess and to personal attacks which are
not at the level of the stakes or the mutual interest of our ties,"
a ministry statement said.
Paris "assumes with lucidity and transparency its duty of memory in
the face of tragedies which marked its history," the statement said,
an allusion to France's admission that the state had a role in the
deportation of Jews to Nazi death camps, and apparently a veiled nod
to its past in Algeria, which gained independence in 1962 after a
brutal seven-year war.
France formally recognized the Armenian killings as genocide in 2001,
but had previously provided no penalty for anyone refuting that. The
bill sets a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of
euro45,000 ($59,000) for those who deny or "outrageously minimize"
the killings, putting such action on par with denial of the Holocaust.
France is committed to human rights and respect for "historical
memory," Sarkozy said in Prague, where he was attending the funeral of
Vaclav Havel, the dissident who became president of the Czech Republic.
"France doesn't give lessons to anyone, but France also doesn't
plan on taking them," Sarkozy said in a clip shown on France's LCI
television. "I respect the convictions of our Turkish friends - it's a
grand country, a grand civilization - and they must respect ours. To
cede on one's convictions is always cowardice, and one always ends
up by paying for cowardice."
Most historians contend the Ottoman killings of up to 1.5 million
Armenians constituted the first genocide of the 20th century. But
the issue is dicey for any government that wants a strong alliance
with Turkey, a rising power. In Washington, President Barack Obama
has stopped short of calling the killings genocide.
The Armenian National Committee of America said the French vote
"reinforces the growing international consensus - and the mounting
pressure on Turkey - for a truthful and just resolution of the
Armenian Genocide."