BY OZDEMIR INCE
HURRIYET- A May 18 column by Alexander Adler published in French daily Le Figaro made me say, `At last!' Adler is a French historian who is fair about the Armenian and Kurdish question. On the day when the bill to criminalize denial of the so-called Armenian genocide was debated in the French Parliament, Alexander went one step further and reminded the French of their responsibilities in this tragedy: `It is certain that there won't be any regret over how, during the 1915 genocide, France was fighting against the Ottoman Empire. The same France helped those Armenians who could survive the genocide to settle in the south and even fight against the new republic of Mustafa Kemal in French uniforms.' (Le Figaro, `Glasnost torque sur la question armenienne.')
It was the first time I'd read a Frenchman acknowledge that the Armenians were wearing French military uniforms. I talked about this hidden fact with my friends at the meeting of the European Poetry Academy. Members from France, Belgium and Luxembourg didn't know this fact. After asking why there are so many Armenians in France, I talked about the French occupation of (Antep) Gaziantep, Cukurova and Hatay. They didn't know about it.
So what should be done? After the bill wasn't voted on in the French Parliament, this doesn't mean that the problem has disappeared. We'll face it again, like in the US House of Representatives and the Senate. It is possible to explain the French role on Ottoman soil, the French occupation and Armenian Legionnaires in French uniforms. Therefore, the Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Institution for History should prepare a booklet in Turkish, French, English and Armenian. Proof from the French archives should be given in this booklet, which should be distributed to universities, Parliament deputies, political parties and the French media, including the regional organs. If we don't do this, we'll have to resort to economic threats.