Turkish Press
June 2 2006

At Last, A French Acknowledgement
Published: 6/2/2006

BY OZDEMIR INCE

HURRIYET- A May 18 column by Alexander Adler published in French
daily Le Figaro made me say, `At last!’ Adler is a French historian
who is fair about the Armenian and Kurdish question. On the day when
the bill to criminalize denial of the so-called Armenian genocide was
debated in the French Parliament, Alexander went one step further and
reminded the French of their responsibilities in this tragedy: `It is
certain that there won’t be any regret over how, during the 1915
genocide, France was fighting against the Ottoman Empire. The same
France helped those Armenians who could survive the genocide to
settle in the south and even fight against the new republic of
Mustafa Kemal in French uniforms.’ (Le Figaro, `Glasnost torque sur
la question armenienne.’)

It was the first time I’d read a Frenchman acknowledge that the
Armenians were wearing French military uniforms. I talked about this
hidden fact with my friends at the meeting of the European Poetry
Academy. Members from France, Belgium and Luxembourg didn’t know this
fact. After asking why there are so many Armenians in France, I
talked about the French occupation of (Antep) Gaziantep, Cukurova and
Hatay. They didn’t know about it.

So what should be done? After the bill wasn’t voted on in the French
Parliament, this doesn’t mean that the problem has disappeared. We’ll
face it again, like in the US House of Representatives and the
Senate. It is possible to explain the French role on Ottoman soil,
the French occupation and Armenian Legionnaires in French uniforms.
Therefore, the Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Institution for
History should prepare a booklet in Turkish, French, English and
Armenian. Proof from the French archives should be given in this
booklet, which should be distributed to universities, Parliament
deputies, political parties and the French media, including the
regional organs. If we don’t do this, we’ll have to resort to
economic threats.