ISLAMABAD – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upped his war of wordsSaturday with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron for creating a day ofremembrance for the 1915 Armenian “genocide”.
Macron decided in February to formally to mark the mass killings and forceddeportations of Armenians by troops from the Ottoman Empire — whichpreceded modern-day Turkey and sided with German and Austro-Hungary inWorld War I.
France on Wednesday held its first “national day of commemoration of theArmenian genocide”.
It was the first major European country to recognise the massacres asgenocide in 2001 and Macron has said his decision on a commemoration isdesigned to show Paris “knows how to look history in the face”.
But Erdogan, who has urged “political novice” Macron to “focus on massacrescommitted by French troops during the colonial era” on Saturday againdenounced the idea.
“Delivering a message to 700,000 Armenians who live in France will not saveyou, Monsieur Macron,” Erdogan told a gathering of his ruling party inKizilcahamam, north of Ankara.
“Learn first to be honest in politics — if you are not you cannot win,”said Erdogan, adding he had told Macron his views several times face toface.
Turkish officials have indicated France should look first at its ownrecord, notably in Algeria and its role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Rwanda’s current government accuses Paris of being complicit in theatrocities committed by the majority Hutu community on minority Tutsis.
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France has always denied the allegations and Macron announced the creationof a panel of historians and researchers earlier in April which will betasked with investigating France’s role.
Some 30 countries and a number of historians recognise the 1915 massacre ofbetween 1.2 and 1.5 million Armenians as genocide.
Ankara rejects the term, saying World War I brought countless fatalities onboth sides against a further backdrop of famine and civil war.
Armenians commemorate the massacres on April 24 — the day in 1915 whenthousands of Armenian intellectuals suspected of harbouring nationalistsentiment and being hostile to Ottoman rule were rounded up.
At the Paris commemoration, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe declaredFrance wanted to contribute to having the massacre internationallyrecognised as a crime against humanity.
He added Paris “will not be impressed by any lies” on the matter nadsupported “historical accuracy and reconciliation”. -APP/AFP
