Zaman Online, Turkey
May 13 2005

Examining the Past!

View by Selin Akyüz

The tension between Algeria and France has renewed. The killings of
thousands of Algerians by French troops at the end of World War II
cause nowadays tension. So, the past affects the present or the
present interrogates the past.

This forgotten `problem’ between Algeria and France came back to the
political agenda with the speech of the Algerian President Bouteflika
after the demonstration during the celebration of the end of World
War II on May 8, 1945.

Bouteflika, in his long speech, asked Paris `to make a gesture to
erase this black stain’. Bouteflika said his country had waited for
years for France to acknowledge acts committed during its
occupation.*

As French statesmen have never used neither the word of `genocide’
nor `massacre’ for the acts, Algeria asks a `correction’. Paris has
never accepted its responsibility. At this point, the thing that is
interesting is related with Turkey’s position against France. While
talking about the genocide of Armenians and accusing Turks is so
easy, accepting or at least acknowledging their acts is so difficult!

`For Algerians, it was a war of colonization and for the French it
was a war.’ mentioned French Foreign Minister Renaud Muselier.
Muselier also mentioned about improving ties between the two
countries and the ways of moving towards cooperation and signing a
friendship treaty should be found.

In addition to French Foreign Minister, Foreign Ministry spokesman
Jean-Baptiste Mattei said both sides must “examine and overcome the
past, including the most painful pages of the colonial period and the
war of Algeria.”

Examining the past… It sounds too difficult for me! The process of
examining the past, the tragedy, the war, the killings… The truth is
left to historians and their examinations. I think this is a vital
responsibility. Not only economical but also, more importantly,
cultural colonization left crucial traces to the lives of Algerians.
Therefore, erasing the past and cooperating will be thorny process.
The present will interrogate the past again!

JTW

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress