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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
March 10 2012
`France will not apologize for Algeria'
PARIS - DoÄ?an News Agency
Sarkozy (R) shakes hand with supporters in Nice as he arrives at a
campaign. REUTERS photo
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said France will not apologize
for the killings of Algerians during the north African country's
struggle for independence between 1954 and 1962.
Speaking before departing to Nice, a visit which is dedicated in
particular to the sensitive issue of `harkis' (the roughly 200,000
Algerian Muslims enrolled as French reserves during the war in the
country) Sarkozy said: `France will not apologize for the reciprocal
atrocities, but they should be commemorated with respect.'
`Those atrocities, committed by both France and Algeria, should be
condemned, but it is not necessary to apologize,' said Sarkozy. Turkey
accused France of hypocrisy, after the French parliament passed a law
that made it illegal to deny that the mass killings of Armenians by
the Ottoman Empire a century ago constituted genocide. The French
Constitutional Council canceled the legislation, calling it
`unconstitutional.' Sarkozy pledged to continue his insistence on
introducing the law in a meeting with the Armenian community in Elysee
on March 7.
March/10/2012
March 10 2012
`France will not apologize for Algeria'
PARIS - DoÄ?an News Agency
Sarkozy (R) shakes hand with supporters in Nice as he arrives at a
campaign. REUTERS photo
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said France will not apologize
for the killings of Algerians during the north African country's
struggle for independence between 1954 and 1962.
Speaking before departing to Nice, a visit which is dedicated in
particular to the sensitive issue of `harkis' (the roughly 200,000
Algerian Muslims enrolled as French reserves during the war in the
country) Sarkozy said: `France will not apologize for the reciprocal
atrocities, but they should be commemorated with respect.'
`Those atrocities, committed by both France and Algeria, should be
condemned, but it is not necessary to apologize,' said Sarkozy. Turkey
accused France of hypocrisy, after the French parliament passed a law
that made it illegal to deny that the mass killings of Armenians by
the Ottoman Empire a century ago constituted genocide. The French
Constitutional Council canceled the legislation, calling it
`unconstitutional.' Sarkozy pledged to continue his insistence on
introducing the law in a meeting with the Armenian community in Elysee
on March 7.
March/10/2012