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Sabah, Turkey
24 Dec 2011
`He should go ask his father about genocide'
Prime Minister Tayyip ErdoÄ?an turned his anger on French President
Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday in a historical row, accusing France of
colonial massacres in Algeria.
ErdoÄ?an returned to the attack a day after the lower house of the
French parliament voted to make it a crime to deny that mass killings
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 amounted to "so-called
genocide". Personalizing the standoff, he said on live television that
Sarkozy's father might have direct knowledge about French "massacres"
in Algeria where Algerians were "martyred mercilessly" and "en masse".
"In Algeria from 1945, an estimated 15 percent of the population was
massacred by the French. This is a genocide. The Algerians were burned
en masse in ovens. They were martyred mercilessly," ErdoÄ?an said. "If
the French President Mr. Sarkozy doesn't know about this genocide he
should go and ask his father, Paul Sarkozy. "His father served in the
French Legion in Algeria in the 1940s. I am sure he would have lots to
tell his son about the French massacres in Algeria," ErdoÄ?an said.
Speaking in Prague where he attended the funeral of former Czech
President Vaclav Havel, Nicolas Sarkozy responded to ErdoÄ?an's
comments. "I respect the convictions of our Turkish friends. It's a
great country with a great civilization, (but) it has to respect our
convictions," the president said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe described Turkey's reaction as "in
all likelihood excessive", but struck a conciliatory tone. "There are
many reasons to keep alive a relationship of trust and friendship
between France and Turkey," Juppe said, adding that personally he had
not been in favour of the vote.
TURKISH ANGER
The French bill, which will be debated in the Senate next year, has
caused outrage in Turkey, which argues killings took place on all
sides during a fierce partisan conflict. ErdoÄ?an condemned the bill
shortly after the vote, suggesting Sarkozy was angling for ethnic
Armenian votes in next year's presidential election. He recalled
Ankara's ambassador to France for consultations and cancelled all
joint economic, political and military meetings. On Friday, he vowed
to take more steps. "We will take gradual measures as long as the
current (French) attitude is maintained," he said without elaborating,
but added Turkey's stance was not directed at the French people. "The
vote in the French parliament has shown how dangerous racism,
discrimination and Islamophobia have become in France and Europe."
Faced with Sarkozy's open hostility to Turkey's stagnant bid to join
the European Union, and backed by a fast-growing economy, Ankara feels
it has little to lose in a political fight with Paris.
ECONOMIC MUSCLE
The country's economy minister weighed in late on Thursday, saying the
bill was based on "a crisis of jealousy". "There are nearly 1,000
French capital investors in Turkey. Created on the basis of trust and
belief in the Turkish economy, these investments are as secure as our
own investments," Zafer Ã?aÄ?layan said in a written statement.
"However, ... the Turkish people are very sensitive regarding this
issue and this cannot be ignored."
Largely unaffected by the financial crisis dogging Western European
countries, Turkey has been increasingly flexing its economic and
political muscle on the world stage. France could experience some
diplomatic discomfort and French firms could lose out on lucrative
Turkish contracts. "The French were warned. Turkey is showing it won't
be pushed around and that Turkey is no longer desperate for EU
accession, i.e. it has other options," said Timothy Ash, an economist
at the Royal Bank of Scotland. "Arguably Turkey now has far more
vibrancy than Western Europe. There is a deep vein of opinion in
Turkey that continental European opposition to Turkish EU accession is
not based on rational, objective reasoning, but more like old-style
stereotypes." France is Turkey's fifth biggest export market and the
sixth biggest source of its imports. About 360 French companies
operate in Turkey, employing more than 80,000 people, according to
export consultancy UbiFrance. Ã?aÄ?layan said bilateral trade amounted
to $14 billion in the first 10 months of 2011.
http://english.sabah.com.tr/National/2011/12/24/he-should-go-as-his-father-about-genocide
24 Dec 2011
`He should go ask his father about genocide'
Prime Minister Tayyip ErdoÄ?an turned his anger on French President
Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday in a historical row, accusing France of
colonial massacres in Algeria.
ErdoÄ?an returned to the attack a day after the lower house of the
French parliament voted to make it a crime to deny that mass killings
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 amounted to "so-called
genocide". Personalizing the standoff, he said on live television that
Sarkozy's father might have direct knowledge about French "massacres"
in Algeria where Algerians were "martyred mercilessly" and "en masse".
"In Algeria from 1945, an estimated 15 percent of the population was
massacred by the French. This is a genocide. The Algerians were burned
en masse in ovens. They were martyred mercilessly," ErdoÄ?an said. "If
the French President Mr. Sarkozy doesn't know about this genocide he
should go and ask his father, Paul Sarkozy. "His father served in the
French Legion in Algeria in the 1940s. I am sure he would have lots to
tell his son about the French massacres in Algeria," ErdoÄ?an said.
Speaking in Prague where he attended the funeral of former Czech
President Vaclav Havel, Nicolas Sarkozy responded to ErdoÄ?an's
comments. "I respect the convictions of our Turkish friends. It's a
great country with a great civilization, (but) it has to respect our
convictions," the president said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe described Turkey's reaction as "in
all likelihood excessive", but struck a conciliatory tone. "There are
many reasons to keep alive a relationship of trust and friendship
between France and Turkey," Juppe said, adding that personally he had
not been in favour of the vote.
TURKISH ANGER
The French bill, which will be debated in the Senate next year, has
caused outrage in Turkey, which argues killings took place on all
sides during a fierce partisan conflict. ErdoÄ?an condemned the bill
shortly after the vote, suggesting Sarkozy was angling for ethnic
Armenian votes in next year's presidential election. He recalled
Ankara's ambassador to France for consultations and cancelled all
joint economic, political and military meetings. On Friday, he vowed
to take more steps. "We will take gradual measures as long as the
current (French) attitude is maintained," he said without elaborating,
but added Turkey's stance was not directed at the French people. "The
vote in the French parliament has shown how dangerous racism,
discrimination and Islamophobia have become in France and Europe."
Faced with Sarkozy's open hostility to Turkey's stagnant bid to join
the European Union, and backed by a fast-growing economy, Ankara feels
it has little to lose in a political fight with Paris.
ECONOMIC MUSCLE
The country's economy minister weighed in late on Thursday, saying the
bill was based on "a crisis of jealousy". "There are nearly 1,000
French capital investors in Turkey. Created on the basis of trust and
belief in the Turkish economy, these investments are as secure as our
own investments," Zafer Ã?aÄ?layan said in a written statement.
"However, ... the Turkish people are very sensitive regarding this
issue and this cannot be ignored."
Largely unaffected by the financial crisis dogging Western European
countries, Turkey has been increasingly flexing its economic and
political muscle on the world stage. France could experience some
diplomatic discomfort and French firms could lose out on lucrative
Turkish contracts. "The French were warned. Turkey is showing it won't
be pushed around and that Turkey is no longer desperate for EU
accession, i.e. it has other options," said Timothy Ash, an economist
at the Royal Bank of Scotland. "Arguably Turkey now has far more
vibrancy than Western Europe. There is a deep vein of opinion in
Turkey that continental European opposition to Turkish EU accession is
not based on rational, objective reasoning, but more like old-style
stereotypes." France is Turkey's fifth biggest export market and the
sixth biggest source of its imports. About 360 French companies
operate in Turkey, employing more than 80,000 people, according to
export consultancy UbiFrance. Ã?aÄ?layan said bilateral trade amounted
to $14 billion in the first 10 months of 2011.
http://english.sabah.com.tr/National/2011/12/24/he-should-go-as-his-father-about-genocide