The French Far-Right Disrupts Bilateral Relations Based On The Burning Memory File

The French far-right is striving to disrupt the noticeable calm in Algerian-French relations, based on the sensitive memory file, which has previously caused bilateral relations to deteriorate on many occasions, by poisoning the atmosphere of the joint committee’s work to examine the memory file.

Following the initiatives taken by French President Emmanuel Macron regarding memory, such as recognizing the French state’s responsibility for suppressing Algerian demonstrators and throwing them into the Parisian Seine River on October 17, 1961, and the assassination of the revolutionaries’ supporters, represented by the martyrs Larbi Ben M’hidi, Ali Boumendjel, and Maurice Audin, supporters of “French Algeria” are targeting recognition of what they call the events of Oran.

This demand came in the context of a written question published in the Official Gazette of the French National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) on Tuesday, June 23, addressed by MP Cyril Tréboullani to Alice Rivault, Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs in the government of Sébastien Lecornu, who visited Algeria last May 8 to participate in commemorating the massacres of Sétif, Guelma, and Kherrata.

The French MP calls on the government to “recognize” the events of Oran that occurred on July 5, 1962, which coincides with the day of Algeria’s declaration of independence, and which witnessed the fall of victims from French citizens residing in Algeria, in addition to individuals considered supporters of the French presence, as he claimed.

The questioner calls on the French authorities to investigate those events, which he said left a deep mark on the memory of French citizens returning to their homeland, the families of the victims, and everyone who is still committed to historical truth, more than sixty years after they occurred.

MP Cyril Tréboullani alluded to the initiatives taken by the French President in this regard, which came, as is known, based on the advice of the French historian and advisor on memory affairs to the French presidency, Benjamin Stora, in the report he submitted to the Élysée Palace in 2021, where he referred to the initiatives taken in this regard and called for what he called “full recognition of those events and a clear study of historical truth.”

Before asking about the measures the government intends to take to enhance official recognition of the Oran events that occurred on July 5, 1962, to preserve the memory of the victims and contribute to transferring this tragic incident from national history to future generations, as he put it.

This written question comes at a time when Algerian-French relations are witnessing a remarkable calm, marked by many reciprocal visits between officials of the two countries, the latest of which was the visit of the Minister of Interior, Local  Assemblies and Transport, Said Saayoud, to France, less than a month ago, in response to a visit by his French counterpart, Laurent Nuñez, to Algeria last February.

Raising this demand leads to the question of whether the aim of the question is to embarrass the French President before public opinion in his country? And on the other hand, to undermine the work of the joint committee to examine the memory file, whose fate remains ambiguous, as it was not among the files that were reopened after the two countries moved towards de-escalation.