ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday criticized French President Emanuel Macron for the recent plan to declare April 24 as a national day to commemorate the Armenian genocide, saying that he needs to face the crimes committed throughout the world by his country.
“I told Macron that he is still new to politics and that he should learn his history,” Erdogan said, speaking on a joint live broadcast on AHaber and ANews channels.
He went on to list all the countries which France had colonized and where, he said, massacres had taken place including Algeria, Indochina and Rwanda. Erdogan continued by saying that Turkey has no record of genocide in its history.
He noted that French colonialists were responsible in the establishment of a center for the slave trade in Gabon.
Between 1872 and 1954, over 500,000 people were slaughtered by the French in Vietnam, while thousands of others were killed in Algeria between 1881 and 1884.
Erdogan noted that France used numerous countries as colonies, exploiting their wealth and resources, and tried to change the religion and language of these countries, such as Guinea, Benin, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameroon, Djibouti, Algeria and Rwanda.
French President Macron should face crimes committed by his country, Erdogan concluded.
