!á�� face="Verdana" size="2"> A few days ago France's TV 5 aired a program on Turkey. The anti-Turkey commentators included nationalist writer Max Gallo and extreme rightist Philippe de Villiers. The pro-Turkey participants included former Prime Minister Michel Rocard (socialist) and Levent Yilmaz. Speaking on behalf of the Armenians was renowned terrorism and guerrilla warfare expert Chaliand.

  The French tend to speak, in fact, shout, all of them at the same time on such occasions. His face all red, his veins swollen, his eyes protruding, Gallo was shouting as he explained why Turkey should not be admitted into the European Union. He said Islam oppressed women and that in Turkey the army suppressed politics. He stressed how right the Greek Cypriots had been to say "no" to the Annan plan. And, naturally, he argued that Turkey would not be able “to be European” without acknowledging the “Armenian genocide.” He maintained that in Turkey the military captures and throws into jail anyone that speaks of the Armenian genocide. He sounded quite sure of himself and of his knowledge of Turkey. With his “dolichocephalic” shaved head and blue eyes, his image on the television screen brought to mind an SS officer rather than a French author.

  The only Turk among the participants, Yilmaz, tried to join in many times but his voice could not be heard due to the clamor. Finally he found a chance to speak, but all that he said was that he had written that a genocide had been committed against the Armenians and yet he had not been jailed! Is that what Turkey's defense is all about?

  Rocard spoke in favor of Turkey's bid to join the EU; however, for him, too, the Armenian genocide was an issue. By citing the French example he tried to find excuses, saying it would take time for Turkey to admit the “genocide.”

  The 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by the Red Army was recently marked with ceremonies in EU countries. Those who survived the concentration camps recounted the atrocities on TV. Documentary films were aired. Books were promoted. Europe mourned the victims of the Holocaust.

  Those Jews who returned to their countries from the camps disclosed for the first time that (unlike the political prisoners who had been sent to the camps because they had resisted the Nazis) they had been treated with great indifference and that they could not get replies to their queries for months from the authorities.

  The Jan. 28 issue of Le Monde featured a map that showed in detail the places from which the 5.1 million Jews killed at the Nazi camps had come. One can see from that map that, with the exception of Denmark, all occupied countries had taken part in the genocide. In fact, in a Jan. 25 speech, Schroeder stressed that the Holocaust was part of the history of all Europe (not of Germany alone). It turns out that 75,000 of the 270,000 Jews living in France had been delivered to the Germans on their way to their deaths.

  Until Chirac became president France denied its involvement in the Jewish genocide. In fact, it would have been impossible to make such a confession earlier, that is, during the events taking place in Algeria. Due to many genocidal acts committed there prior to 1962 some 900,000 Algerians, that is, about one-quarter or one-third of the country's entire population, had perished.

  However, Mitterrand had said that “in wars such things could happen.” In 1997 Maurice Papon was condemned to prison, but that was for “crimes against humanity” and not for the crime of committing “genocide.” He had delivered some 1,600 Jews to the Germans under the Vichy government when he was serving as sous-prefet. Also, during the Charles de Gaulle era he was responsible for the way 200 Algerian youths (who had staged a demonstration) were thrown into the Seine and drowned. At that time he was serving as the police chief of Paris. Later, Giscard d'Estaing made Papon his budget minister. Furthermore, the main culprit in the “aiding genocide” case, Rene Bosquet, who was a friend of Mitterrand, committed suicide (or was killed) before he could be put on trial.

  Also, it turned out that the French Church that had collaborated with the Nazis had hidden a murderer named Paul Touvier in a monastery until 1989. Only because of pressure from the pope did the French Church issue a statement of remorse in 1997.

  So, it was after spending such a “forced” week of mourning that people like Max Gallo discussed the issue of Turkish membership in the EU. By saying that Turks too had committed the same “sin” by perpetrating acts of genocide against the Armenians but that, unlike the French, the Turks had failed to “confess” it, they implied that the French were on a higher plane of civilization. However, they failed to realize that when they called for the exclusion of Turkey (on grounds of religious and cultural differences) from the EU, they were operating the same “mechanism” that had lain under their “old sins.”

  There is no need to dwell on this issue any further. France could, if it wanted, take its Armenian genocide claims to the International Court of Justice at The Hague, invoking Article 9 of the “Genocide Convention.” Or should we lodge a similar complaint there -- against France?