France can’t lecture us on genocide, history: Turkish FM

ANTALYA

Populism lies behind remarks made by French politicians on the issue regarding the Ottoman Armenian population and incidents during World War I, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on April 12.

“France is the last country which can lecture Turkey on genocide and history,” Çavuşoğlu said at a NATO parliamentary assembly in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, in response to a statement by French deputy Sonia Krimi.

“France should mind its own dark history in Rwanda and Algeria,” he added.

Recalling French President Emmanuel Macron’s declaration of April 24 as a day to commemorate what Armenians call the Armenian Genocide, Çavuşoğlu said: “There is only one reason behind making such a decision in the absence of adequate information: It is populism. Unfortunately your president has succumbed to populism.”

Krimi said she was “shocked” by Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop’s words against steps taken by the Italian parliament and the French president on the 1915 killings.

In the opening speech of the NATO meeting on April 12, Şentop said: “This initiative, which is far from state seriousness, serves no purpose other than the politicization of history with an unsubstantiated legal basis.”

Golan Heights

Speaking about Israel’s recent controversial moves on the Golan Heights and the West Bank, Çavuşoğlu said it had been encouraged by recent wrong decisions by the U.S.

“Israel must abandon its aggressive attitude and it needs to return to the two-state solution,” he added.