A prominent French journalist has said he will step down from his role as an expert analyst for broadcaster RTL after causing a stir by comparing French actions during colonial rule in Algeria to a World War II massacre carried out by Nazi forces in France.
Jean-Michel Aphatie, a veteran reporter and broadcaster, insisted that while he would not return to RTL, he stood by his comments made on the radio station in February, equating the atrocities committed by France in Algeria with those of Nazi Germany in occupied France.
"I will not return to RTL. It is my decision," the journalist wrote on X, after the radio station suspended him from broadcasting for a week, A2 CNN reports.
On February 25 he said on air: “Every year in France, we commemorate what happened in Oradour-sur-Glane – the massacre of an entire village. But we have committed hundreds of such, in Algeria. Are we aware of this?”
He was referring to the village where an SS unit returning to the front in Normandy massacred 642 residents on June 10, 1944. Leaving a chilling memorial for future generations, the village was never rebuilt.
In X, he acknowledged that his comments had created a "debate" but said it was of great importance to understand the full story of France's 1830-1962 presence in Algeria, saying he was "horrified" by what he had read in history books, writes A2 CNN.
Having been suspended for a week by the channel means that "if I return to RTL I confirm this and admit that I made a mistake." "This is a line that cannot be crossed," he said.
His comments had prompted a flurry of complaints to the audiovisual regulator Arcom, which has opened an investigation.
France's behavior in Algeria during the 1954-1962 war that led to independence and the preceding decades remain the subject of often painful debate in both countries, reports A2 CNN.
Historians on both sides have documented numerous violations in recent years, including arbitrary killings and detentions carried out by French forces, and the history still weighs heavily on Franco-Algerian relations to this day.
The far right in France has long defended French policies in those years with Algerian War veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen, who co-founded the National Front (FN) party and died earlier this year, drawing much support from French settlers who had to return after independence.
(A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
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