The Struggle for Historical Consciousness: Relations between Algeria and France have been shaken over the past week.
It began last Thursday, when the Algerian Foreign Ministry summoned French Ambassador Francois Gwyette for a reprimand due to cuts in the number of visas for Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian citizens.
Subsequently, French President Emmanuel Macron caused greater outrage in Algeria - as part of an interview with Le Monde newspaper on Saturday.
"Algeria has been ruled by a military political system," Macron said, adding that "its history has been rewritten and is not based on truths, but on hatred of France."
A few hours after the publication of the interview, the office of Algerian President 'Abd al-Majid Tabun announced that "the ambassador to Paris has been called for consultations due to the irresponsible remarks" of the French president.
The reaction in Algeria
Within one day, Algeria also decided to ban the passage of French military aircraft in their airspace - which is detrimental to military activity against the many terrorist organizations in West Africa.
"Our international partners need to stop decolonising their history," Algerian Foreign Minister Ramatana told a television article in Mali during a visit to the local capital.
If that was not enough, then Macron continued to heat up the winds - and complicate France in renewed diplomatic tensions with Turkey.
"Colonialism in Algeria was before French rule," the French president said today (Thursday) during a meeting at the Elysee Palace with Algerian descendants who fought on the side of France during Algeria's War of Independence (1962-1954).
In doing so, he sent an accusing finger to the Ottoman rule in Algeria between 1830 and 1514.
Macron said, "Building Algeria as a nation is a phenomenon worth looking at. Was there an Algerian nation before the French presence? That is the question."
In this case, the senior respondent is not Algerian - but Turkish Foreign Minister (Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu).
"These are completely wrong and populist statements," the Turkish foreign minister attacked during a joint press conference in Kiev with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Kolba.
Turkish Foreign Minister Chebushalou,
"Completely False Statements"
"It is utterly wrong to drag Turkey, which has no black mark in its history, like colonialism, into such debates," Chebushalou continued.
"Algeria has already taken the appropriate response to Macron's remarks. I recall that French President and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to speak directly and not through the media. On this issue, such statements are completely wrong."
The French foreign minister summed up his remarks with a sting: "France has entered the atmosphere of elections towards 2022, and Macron is taking this path due to the election campaign."
At the same time, the Algerian foreign minister was interviewed by Press TV today, emphasizing: "We are not interested in foreign mediation with France."
"We do not accept any foreign interference in our internal affairs," he said.
