Sarkozy Urges Mutual Respect as Erdogan Accuses France of Committing 'Genocide'

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused France of committing "genocide" in Algeria after French lawmakers voted a bill criminalizing the denial of Armenian genocide.

"France massacred an estimated 15 percent of the Algerian population starting from 1945. This is genocide," Erdogan told a news conference after the French move on the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman-era forces.

The Turkish premier accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of "fanning hatred of Muslims and Turks for electoral gains."

"If the French President Mr. Sarkozy does not know about this genocide, he can ask his father Pal Sarkozy... (who) had served in the French legion in Algeria in the 1940s," Erdogan said in his televised remarks.

"I am sure he has many things to tell his son about the French massacre in Algeria," Erdogan said.

France is home to around 500,000 citizens of Armenian descent and they are seen as a key source of support for Sarkozy and his UMP ahead of presidential and legislative elections in April and June next year.

On Thursday, France's National Assembly voted the first step towards passing a law that would impose a jail term and a 45,000 euro fine on anyone in France who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians constitutes genocide.

During World War I hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turk forces. Armenia says 1.5 million died in a genocide, Turkey says around 500,000 died in fighting after they sided with a Russian invasion.

France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called on Turkey not to "overreact" to a bill that he insisted was a parliamentary initiative, and not a project of Sarkozy's government.

Comments 28
Default-user-icon ziad mousa (Guest) 23 December 2011, 12:25

erdogan totally right

Default-user-icon Anonymous2 (Guest) 23 December 2011, 13:26

funny two nations who have committed genocides are accusing each other to justify their "justified" stance in this "civilized" world, but i'll bury that two face erdogan first and then deal with zionist sarkozy later.
but whats important is one less genocide bill to worry about for now and erdogan should just shut his A hole before he sees worst scenarios unfolding in his already self buried state, congrats erdo you just made ur last standing "good" neighbor "Syria" ur enemy now now ur meddling with france in an orgy of "enemy made" neighbors you already hold from , iran, iraq, armenia now syria and wow it goes on congrats ur surrounded!

Default-user-icon Horatio (Guest) 23 December 2011, 14:19

One descendant of criminals accuses another descendant of criminals of committing genocide. Filth begets filth.

Default-user-icon Chechen (Guest) 23 December 2011, 14:31

French genocide in Algeria? Whoever believes this should get their facts right. Besides, did the French chief at the time declare he wanted an Algeria without Algerians, as the Sultan declared about the Armenians? How many Algerians in France and Armenians in Turkey now?

Default-user-icon Luxembourg Bob (Guest) 23 December 2011, 15:36

If you've ever met an Armenian you'd know that the Turks are right either way.

Default-user-icon BigH (Guest) 23 December 2011, 15:39

Nobody can deny history. There were a lot of genocides throughout the ages; Stalin vs. Russians, Nazis vs. Jews, Jews vs. Palestinians, French vs. Algerian, Turks vs. Armenians, English vs. North Americans, Spanish vs. South Americans, Dutch vs. Africans, etc
The victims of the genocides have to move on and stop acting like victims. You can't change people's opinions about genocides; some acknowledge them, some deny them and the rest don't care.

Default-user-icon Europe's conscience (Guest) 23 December 2011, 17:15

may be we should ask why there are 500,000 armenians in France the first place, and 2 million in US, etc.... Armenia has a population of only 3 mln. Naturally they did not immigrate...

Default-user-icon MUSTAPHA O. GHALAYINI (Guest) 23 December 2011, 18:46

its a mistake ya hajj, sarko lost with the turks more than he gained with the armenians.

Default-user-icon abe (Guest) 23 December 2011, 18:59

Erdogan
why don't you ask your father or grandfather to what they did to the Armenians living on THEIR land between 1915-1918, I'm sure Pamuk's, Dink"s and others would have been glad to tell you about the genocide.
You and your goverment is not man enough to do it

Thumb jabalamel 23 December 2011, 19:57

all the imperial nations have blood on their hands in the history. important is what are they doing now.

Default-user-icon Europe's conscience (Guest) 23 December 2011, 20:21

we should wonder how come 500,000 Armenians ended up in France and 2 million in US and hundreds of thousands in other countries in the 5 continents of this world, out of a total population of 3 million currently living in Armenia, then you have the answer.

Default-user-icon Gregory (Guest) 23 December 2011, 22:00

to all of the above: genocide is not determined by the number or the cruelty of the killings, but by the intention behind them. The Russians lost 20 million people in WWII, but that is not recognized as a genocide in the textbooks. When Hitler master-planed the extermination of the Jews within his territories, he famously said "After all, who remembers the Armenians?". The Armenian Genocide was a precedent he was referring to.

Default-user-icon Gregory (Guest) 23 December 2011, 22:00

Talaat Pasha of the Young Turks ordered the SYSTEMATIC, ORGANIZED killing of Armenians with the goal of EXTERMINATING them.
Now, saying that France did the same is a little far-stretched. YES, France killed THOUSANDS, REPRESSED and PUNISHED Algerians in its dark colonial past, but the goal was NEVER to eradicate the Algerian people. They just a wanted a submissive and compliant community. NOT nice either, BUT PLEASE DON'T CALL IT A GENOCIDE!!
It makes me sick to see a trash bag like Erdogan standing for justice in the Middle East... maybe he has a very selective memory of his own nation's past.
Up until today, people are judged and imprisoned for "insult to Turkish Identity" (article 301), a prominent Armenian journalist was assassinated in daylight, in the heart of Istanbul, by some "crazy nationalist".... who is now venerated by the masses!! Come on....

Default-user-icon Gregory (Guest) 23 December 2011, 22:00

I went to school in France, and it is certainly not with pride that the Algerian chapter is taught...
This French law would not be needed if Turkey followed the example of Germany.

Default-user-icon Romelus (Guest) 23 December 2011, 22:00

Filth begets filth.

Default-user-icon RK (Guest) 23 December 2011, 22:44

Dr. Rafael Lemkin Professor of Law he is best known for his work against genocide, a word he created in 1943 from the root words genos (Greek for family, tribe, or race) and -cide (Latin for killing).

He is the author of Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260.

He created the word GENOCIDE based on the Armenian experience at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.

So Mr. Erdogan you cannot escape from the crimes that your grandparents committed.

Default-user-icon Le PheneChien (Guest) 24 December 2011, 04:40

@Habal/smalldig/sweating_rat: Hafez Assad destroyed Hamah on the head of its citizens claiming Al-Qeada or extremists were inside the city. He later destroyed with GRAD missiles almost every city in Lebanon (i.e. Tripoli, Knat, Zahle, Baabda, East Beirut and more..). These were lessons learned from the Turks who ruled ruthlessly the middle east for many years before we were set free by the English/French army and then later we were independent. People like you would prefer the Ottoman genocide ruling than to be set free with decent life and future.

Default-user-icon agop (Guest) 24 December 2011, 13:01

turks usally black mail other nations when they want to cover their terrible past. they turks, the otoman, killed my grand parents and cofisticated their land in sevaz. thats all i can say about those criminal otoman turks.

Default-user-icon agop (Guest) 24 December 2011, 13:13

The ottoman turks committed very bad things to Armenian people. they systematically murdered one million and half Armenians.the rest of the rest Armenians a handful, were saved by kind Arabian people.we owe thanks to syrian,lebanese,French,and russian,and some American missionaries.
today,we still exist. ottoman and young turks planed,to exterminate Armenians. unfortunately,their plan failed. we exist,as a nation,and, have a country Armenia.

Thumb jabalamel 24 December 2011, 15:11

the filthy zionist information war department tried to say something in the last post but said nothing like always

Default-user-icon merrychristmas (Guest) 25 December 2011, 13:54

Ya europesconscience,

you do realise that humans procreate yes? 3million in 1915 should result in 10's of millions in the present day.
Seriously people think before you post..

Alot of casualties does not mean they were genocidal actions. As one poster said, look at current France and how many Algerians there are, compare that to how many turks are in armenia or how many armenians are in turkey..
Its ridiculous how many people are applauding Erdogan for saying this, like it absolves turkey of their actions...

Default-user-icon Le phénicien (Guest) 25 December 2011, 20:03

Bravo président Sarkozy . Erdogan you are finished personnally as Well as Turkey and the fanatic Turcs . Thé doors of Europe are definitely closed IN your face .

Default-user-icon Anonymous.is.back (Guest) 26 December 2011, 22:21

@Le phénicien
Turkey withdrew it's candidate-ship for EU A LONG TIME AGO DIPSHIT
Go back to school, read history than come back and talk a-hole..

We don't care about the genocide...
Why should people be punished 45000€ and 1year prison for denying that?
THAT IS INJUSTICE idiots..

Anonymous will get france and armenia :)
All networks down how you like that.

Expect us.
Anonymous

Default-user-icon Anonymou2 (Guest) 26 December 2011, 22:49

All countries should follow Germany's example, and yes Turkish government will pay the price not for the crimes their ancestors committed but the price to be paid is for the DENIAL! period. which in turn is a genocide for future generations historians and deliberate crime in deliberately trying to hide facts of history against a nation and its people and doing the up-most to erase it form the books, that in itself is a crime to pay for! everyone understood the concept here? good.. lets move on..

Default-user-icon Anonymous2 (Guest) 26 December 2011, 23:00

oh and "Anonymous.is.back" just go back from being back here, if you don't care, 500 million + people in this world do its just your word against theirs,
and in this case I DON'T buy the rule of "everyone's entitled to free speech", No in this case its either you are humane which in turn would make you a functional human by seeing the truth of the past and present/future or such rules as free speech cannot be applied to soulless spines such as what you may be, such atrocities must be condemned by the entire world's opposing population unanimously and without a second thought if men can't do that anymore then good luck for the future of your children's children.

Missing bilal_marakbi 26 December 2011, 23:09

Lephenicheien, you say the french and british set us free? How dumb are you? Seriously?. The turks are barbarians, we know this but dont act as if the colonializers set us free because they came to our countries and treated us like dogs, they slaughtered tens of thousands, created secterianism and gave us dictators, israel and messed up politicial systems and while ruling us, they executed people left and right, raped women, stole, gave us bad names, put their shoes on our heads just to name some of the crimes. They didnt liberate us one bit. People like you are a disgrace. You worship the white man clearly. Over 1 million algerians were slaughtered and burned by the french liberators so keep your mouth shut please.

Missing bilal_marakbi 26 December 2011, 23:18

A genocide is not a genocide until the white man has said it is and the white man decides what is right or wrong while the house slaves follow like the stupid shoe worshipers that they are. Disgusting, truly disgusting.

Default-user-icon Anonymous2 (Guest) 27 December 2011, 12:04

Agreed, the french and the British gave us much of our system, and today I just wish they had stayed, not this so called "independence" that we took as a country Lebanon, Seriously what independence ever since the day the french left we've been eating each other alive, we ruined all the wonderful culture and roads trains economy THEY GAVE US from the houses and style of jemaizi to the cultural buildings all have french architecture written on them the beauty of Lebanon is owed in its aesthetics and functionality of what it used to be to the french, face it and accept facts! just look at us today polluting the air, traffic jams all over economy down the basement and sectarian divisions on a brink of yet another war, culture being destroyed erected instead by commercial average looking buildings more and more reminiscent of UAE. I laugh every time we celebrate our so called "Independence" I want the french back so we could live in peace!