HISTORIANS TO HANDLE ‘ALGERIAN GENOCIDE’
By Ali Ihsan Aydin, Paris

Zaman Online, Turkey
April 25 2006

France, overlooking the suggestion to “resort to historians” when
it issued the so-called Armenian Genocide Law five years ago, now
seeks assistance from historians in the face of accusations of having
committed genocide.

“Memory study cannot be conducted by politicians; it is neither the
business of parliamentary representatives nor that of senators,”
the French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said.

Politicians should leave history to the historians, the minister added
last week. Algerian President Abdelaziz Buteflika accused France of
having committed genocide in Algeria.

Talking to a French radio, “Memory studies are conducted by historians
and researchers,” said Doust-Blazy in response to a comment suggesting
that “Buteflika insulted France by mentioning genocide.”

Before he came to France, Buteflika held the country responsible for
“conducting genocide against the Algerian identity” between 1830
and 1962.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress