SONS DON’T APOLOGIZE FOR THEIR FATHERS’ MISTAKES
By Ali Ihsan Aydin
Zaman Online, Turkey
Nov 15 2006
Though first in line when it comes to demanding that Turkey face up to
its dark history, namely claims of a 1915 Armenian genocide, it seems
that Paris is content to take a ‘let’s leave history to the historians’
approach when faced with its own colonial era trauma in Algeria.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has been on an official visit
to France’s former colony Algeria. On Monday Sarkozy placed a wreath
at a monument for Algerians killed in their war for independence and
on Tuesday he visited a monastery in Tibhirine where seven French
monks where killed in 1996.
In only eight years, 1.5 million Algerians died during their country’s
fight for independence between 1954 and 1962. Torture was widespread.
The Algerian government has urged France to apologize for the killings
and suffering during 130 years of colonial rule.
While the Algerian government has called on the French to recognize
"the number of victims and the looting of riches" and "the deletion of
national identity," Sarkozy preferred to talk about the "dark moments"
of the colonial era and suffering on both sides.
Sarkozy, a leading candidate for the French center-right political
world to run for president next year, has strongly supported France’s
recent notorious bill criminalizing the denial of an Armenian genocide
at the hands of the Turks during World War I.
During his trip Sarkozy preferred to focus on an initiative to lift
visa restrictions for Algerians traveling to Europe. Both the French
interior minister and the Algerian leadership avoided talking too
much on the two topics cooling relations between the two countries:
Algeria’s call for an apology and the postponement of a 2005 bilateral
friendship treaty.
The treaty was pushed aside after France passed a law last year
requiring textbooks to talk about the "positive side" of French
colonialism. An embarrassed Chirac quashed the law but relations
have suffered.
Instead, both sides preferred to talk about Sarkozy’s trip in terms
of a "necessary" friendship between the two countries "condemned"
to a mutual future, said Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.