Sabah, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

J’accuse! (I blame)

Putting itself in a judge’s position, the French Parliament has
signed an unjust decision which has offended Turkish nation. The same
France, 112 years ago, issued another injustice by imprisoning its
own army officer, thinking he was a spy.

Years ago, when Officer Dreyfus was blamed for being a spy, the
French government imprisoned him without having acquired sufficient
evidence. The famous author Emile Zola defended him in L’Aurore
Newspaper’s headline: "J’accuse! (I blame) she wrote to the French
government. That same government went on to convict Emile Zola as
well.

After many years passed, France accepted both Dreyfus’s and Zola’s
innocence and had to apologize to both. Yesterday’s decision has
reminded everyone of Zola’s "J’accuse!" headline. Ignoring Turkish
protests, the French parliament approved a bill and made it a crime
to deny that Armenians suffered from a genocide in 1915 at the hands
of the Ottoman Turks. The motion was carried by 106 votes to 19.