Erdogan considers Macron “a beginner in politics” after France dedicated a day to the “Armenian genocide” and calls to “learn the history of his country”, while the “yellow vests” protests continues in France
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday described his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron as a “beginner in politics” and called on him to “learn the history of his country” after Paris decided to dedicate a day to commemorate the genocide.
“I told Macron”, you’re still a beginner in politics, first learn the history of your country, “Erdogan said in an interview with Turkey’s Turkish television channel A Haber.
The Turkish president then enumerated the countries colonized by France and the massacres that, he said, he committed or were involved in, particularly in Algeria, India, China and Rwanda.
The head of the information office in the Turkish presidency, Fakhruddin Alton, quickly quoted this part of Erdogan’s statement and published it on social networking sites.
The Turkish President, in an interview with his French counterpart, “Macron, first of all understand this. There has been no genocide in our history, “he asked the Elysee master to use” this word (genocide) with caution”.
France, which has a large Armenian community, announced last week that it would devote a “national day to commemorate the Armenian genocide” on April 24, in a resolution quickly condemned by Turkey.
On 24 April 2015, the Ottoman Empire executed a group of Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul.
Armenia chose this day to commemorate the “genocide” every year, and Paris decided to do the same.
Turkey refuses to consider the massacres suffered by the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as ”annihilation” and says that at the end of the era the Sultanate witnessed a civil war that coincided with famine, killing between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and a similar number of Turks when the Ottoman and Russian forces were in control of Anatolia.
Macron announced on Thursday at the annual dinner of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France that his country will commemorate the national day of the memory of the Armenian genocide, fulfilling the promise made during his campaign to include the Armenian genocide in the French official calendar.
Once Macron announced this, Ankara was quick to denounce and condemn his decision.
Armenians say 1.5 million of their predecessors were systematically killed before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, while historians in more than 20 countries, including France, Italy and Russia, acknowledged genocide.
In January 2001, France was the first major European country to recognize the Armenian genocide, which was also, recognized by some 20 other countries.
On the other hand, in France, where the “yellow vests” for 14th week on the row continue in France.
After three months of pretending to be part of a movement that is still fragmented and boring, the “yellow vests” want to move across France on Saturday as well as on Sunday with different means and slogans at times.
In Paris, mobilization will continue throughout the weekend to mark the three-month anniversary of the demonstrations on Sunday.
An invitation was launched on Facebook, which is witnessing extensive follow-up to the “movements of disobedience” and “the closing of the Star Square for as long as possible” Saturday.
In another, more popular move on the social media network, an invitation was issued to move Sunday in the same venue to a “peaceful” demonstration.
The Paris police warned that it “doesn’t rule out that during these two days informal gatherings and the formation of processions uncontrolled”, asserting that it will deploy “appropriate number of troops” to ensure the security of the French capital.
In Bordeaux and Toulouse, two other protest strongholds, rallies will take place on Saturday afternoon ahead of marches marked every Saturday by violence.
In the Midi-Pyrénées region and the east, several groups have called for a three-month commemoration of the protest movement through rallies in the roundabouts as of Saturday morning.
Saturdays will also take place in other cities including Marseille, Lyon, Nantes, Lille, Nice and others.
The government figures, which counted 51,400 demonstrators in France, last Saturday, indicate a decline in mobilization in recent weeks.
But the protest movement denies this and talks about the stability of its strength, stressing that 118 thousand people took to the streets last week.
The widespread public support of the unprecedented protest movement, launched on 17 November, seems to be easing.
For the first time, a majority of the French (56 percent) hopes to stop the move, according to a poll published Wednesday.
Despite these signs of decline, many activists want to move “not to stop” a week later, during which two of her characters, truck driver Eric Dreue and former boxer Christophe Dettinger, were tried in Paris.
Prosecutors demanded a week of training for a demonstration without a license, while Dettinger was sentenced to one year in prison on Wednesday for execution.
He was lightly beaten to death because he was violently beaten by gendarmes on the eighth Saturday of demonstrations in Paris.
Between the government engaged in promoting the big debate and the demonstrators who condemn consultations they consider formative, the dialogue continues.
“This movement is no longer demanding anything”, French Interior Minister christophe castaner said on Thursday.
“They are demanding a demonstration to celebrate the three-month anniversary”, he said sarcastically.”I don’t see a reason to stop, they are not listening to us”, said a spokeswoman for the protesters in Marseille.
“The debate is going on here, but since November, we know what it wants: something concrete that is, increasing purchasing power and more public services”.
