Denial French Style

The French parliament has decided to make a denial of the Armenian genocide a crime. This is a specific law aimed at a specific country; Turkey. The French would be more honest if their law at least targeted all genocide, but that would mean confronting their own murderous past.

The Armenian genocide refers to activity of the Young Turks around 1915. The aim was to detract from the poor planning and execution of a disastrous campaign against Russia in 1914. The Armenians were also beginning to agitate for a separate status after the so–called Great Powers began pecking away at the Ottoman Empire.

The result was executions and expulsions. Many Armenians died because of the suppression as well as from starvation and exhaustion. While many agree that a genocide occurred, there are dissenters. There is photographic and eyewitness evidence of atrocities. Enver, the chief of the Young Turks, was quoted as claiming there would no Armenians left in Armenia.

France has hardly been clean from genocide, atrocities, and suppression. The more recent French activity includes the World War II government, the Algerian occupation, and the French Morocco Protectorate. A French law of February, 2005 lauds the French men and Women who served in the French colonies without recognizing the atrocities that were part of the occupations. The French activity in Indochina led directly to instability and upheaval in southeast Asia. French activity in Africa interfered with normal development of nations. Upheaval in the Middle East was the result of the behavior of France with Great Britain and Italy.

The pro–NAZI activity of France before and during the War is well documented. While some may blame the Vichy government for the behavior of the country, great numbers of the populace were happy with the German occupation.

In Morocco, the Vichy laws discriminating against Jews were opposed by Sultan Mohammed V. In that country, those laws were weakly implemented. In France, they were not.

The Algerian occupation resulted in a long and bloody war. The French military had no problem mass executing noncombatants. French Algerians fully expected France to retain control for their benefit. But, colonialism was grinding to a halt due to resistance and economics. It took a while, and many more lives before France recognized the inevitable.

Prior to World War I, France along with the other Great Powers was continually interfering with the government of the Ottoman Empire. The Empire was aging and losing its edge, an easy target. On any pretext, the powers would intervene somewhere and impose territory restrictions on the Ottoman, extract concessions and demand special treatment for Christians, particularly European Christians.

After the War, these same powers carved up the Ottoman Empire with no consideration of consequences for the inhabitants of any of the newly constructed countries. There were statesmen who believed that the part of Turkey on the European continent should be stolen to ensure that no non–European country would exist in the continent.

With Allied winks and nods, Greece invaded Turkey; atrocities resulted. Eventually, Turkey repulsed the Greeks and then expelled the Sultan and the Caliph. And, Turkey was only of the Central powers that managed to conclude the war on favorable terms.

The great powers continued to muck up the world with their bizarre notions. The gift of much of Palestine to Zionists accomplished what the Crusades could not, as well as established a European beachhead in the Middle East.

Why won’t Turkey acknowledge the Armenian Genocide? After all, if this occurred it wasn’t during the watch of the Turkish Republic. The young Turks, led by Enver Pasha and ruled by the Sultan was in power.

First, the argument is that there was no genocide. This position states that the atrocities were committed mutually or by more than one party. Greeks were involved and probably Kurds as well. This argument skirts the issue since Enver wanted to be rid of Armenians and there were forced expulsions besides mass executions.

A better argument is that it wasn’t Turkey that committed the acts. It was the Ottoman Empire run by the Sultan and blessed by the Caliph. Under the Turkish Republic, the rule became all that citizens were equal. Religion or sex did not matter. Religious courts were abolished.* Thus, a way out can be to recognize the acts but distance from the perpetrators.

Of course, for some the recognition would damn all Turks past, present and future.

The behavior of the French parliament is horrible though. This is a country that will not allow the sale of NAZI memorabilia in order to pretend it had not collaborated with the Germans. They are on a slippery slope by declaring one genocide sacrosanct but ignoring all others. This is a blatant attempt by reactionaries to keep the European Union pure.

A reality is that all of us need to recognize the ugliness of deeds in the history of our countries. The United States engaged the involuntary sterilization of people based on income, class, and race. The United States committed terrible atrocities in the pacification of the Philippine Islands after taking that country from Spain.

And the US blissfully ran into Vietnam after the French suffered defeat there. This resulted in the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the subsequent genocide and fratricide.

To attempt to make denial of one particular genocide or even all genocide a crime is a sign of great ignorance. Coercing freedom of speech and thought is the mark of the small minded. This French attempt is one of the defenses used in denial of one’s own shortcomings. That is making a problem belong to someone else and pretending superiority.

The ultimate solution is for each entity to recognize its own atrocities or genocides. Then; with self–education ensure that it does not get close to repeating that behavior. Stop making our problems someone elses.

* Contrast this with Israel. The country has no constitution and has separate religious courts for each religion.