Alexandre del Valle
Encyclopedia
Alexandre del Valle is a French political scientist, geopolitician
, and researcher at Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics
. His research focuses on radical Islam, terrorism and Turkey's accession to European Union. Del Valle is a proponent of Red-Green-Brown Alliance
theory.
, France, on September 6, 1969. He is a son of Pieds-Noirs. His father was a Sicilian from Tunisia and his mother an anti-Francoist
Spaniard from Oran
, Algeria. In 2001, he married a Jewish Argentine woman, Monica Althman. The name Alexandre Del Valle is reportedly a pseudonym he uses for safety reasons because of the controversial nature of his books.
of Aix-en-Provence
. He specialized in international relations
and the geopolitics of the Arab-Muslim world.
He also received a Diplôme d'études approfondies (DEA) on Military History-security-defense at the Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence
(Institute of Political Studies), a Diplôme d'études approfondies of European History of doctrines and political institutions at the Università degli Studi di Milano with Professor Albertoni circa 1994.
Alexandre del Valle has studied the political life of Lebanon and the legal status of Jewish and Christian minorities in Muslims states at the Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik
, Beyrouth. Del Valle has also studied geopolitics and Islamic World with Yves Lacoste
, Pierre-Marie Gallois, Bruno Étienne, Gilles Kepel
and Bat Ye'Or
.
, France Soir
, Israel Magazine, La Une
, Risk, Europa dei Popoli, Il Liberal, Il Borghese del Nord, and others. He publishes articles in geopolitical magazines and reviews such as Daedalos Papers, Nova Storica, Politique Internationale
, Herodote, Outre Terre, Geostrategics, Geopolitical affairs, Stratégiques, Géoéconomie, and others.
, Cyprus. Currently, he teaches geopolitics at the Ecole de Guerre Economique (EGE) and is an associate researcher at the Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics
.
Since 2004, in the framework of Daedalos Institute, Alexandre del Valle is studying the growth of Political Islam in Turkey and its application to join the European Union
.
Del Valle claims to work with moderate Muslims such as Mezri Haddad, Houchang Nahavandi, Jbil Kebir or Mohamed Sifaoui, who publicly supported him and explained that Alexandre del Valle was a supporter of a modern and secular Islam and only denounced radical Islam just as many Muslims do.
" , a liberal-conservative
faction within the Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP). Their slogan is "Secularity, defense of the West and Freedom, and struggle against political correctness." Before joining the UMP, Del Valle was a member of the Rally for the Republic
, a French right-wing political party
.
. He contributes to a better analysis of new totalitarian threats. One of his major references is Karl Popper
and his historical work: The Open Society and its Enemies
.
Del Valle describes what he calls the new Western and European Munich in the face of Islamist fascism. Like Bat Ye'or
, he also analyzes the dhimmitude
which has gradually been befalling the declining "psychologically as well as demographically" countries of Europe which seem to be sinking into a condition which Ye'or has described as "Eurabia
."
., The different components of this Axis have for a common objective the struggle against the new faces of Evil: America, Israel,Imperialism, and even the West in its entirety .
According to his theories, Islamism, the third totalitarianism after Nazism
and communism, extends the aspirations of its two predecessors: seizing the struggle of civilizations and religions then declaring war on the non-Muslim world in the name of the "dispossessed". This totalitarianism seduces as much those nostalgics for the pagan Third Reich, resolved to eradicate Judaism and Christianity, as it does those partisans of communism, determined to come to blows with capitalism and the West.
This junction of Red, Brown and Green totalitarianisms around the cause of Palestinian
martyrs, Iraqis and Afghans, as much as the revolutionary figure of Osama bin Laden
, confirms the leadership, henceforth uncontested, of revolutionary Islamism. From now on, this exerts a real fascination upon the other totalitarian options defeated by history (Nazism and Communism) and, consequently, condemned either to reconstitute themselves or to join the Islamist revolution in order to pursue their struggle against liberal democracies. According to Alexandre Del Valle, this alliance between the New Third World (Hugo Chavez
's anti-American
regime and its Bolivian and Cuban allies), the Islamists and the Rogue State
s such as Iran, Syria, North Korea, Sudan and pro-Palestinian terrorists movements will be in the future the Main danger for both North America and Europe.
. He believes America and Europe should convince Russia to join its alliance instead of supporting anti-Western
coalitions led by China, Iran and Venezuela. In 2000, after the Kosovo war
, Del Valle wrote that it is necessary for the West to criticize Washington and European mistakes when USA and EU supported the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and continue to do so. He also deplored the anti-Russian and anti-Serbian attitudes that agitated the Cold War period and incited Moscow to join the anti-western Axis. Back then, he condemns those expressing anti-American
feelings in Europe, Latin-America and Russia. He suggests the promotion of a strategic alliance between the three western keystone states. USA, Orthodox Europe
and Western Europe should build a stronger alliance in the face of Islamic threat.
. In his opinion, Turkey is neither European culturally nor geographically (except for Istanbul
and Thrace
). Even if a small Kemalist minority or the inhabitants of the posh suburbs of Istanbul feel European, the inhabitants of east Istanbul, Ankara
or Anatolia
feel closer to their Iraqi neighbors than to Europeans or Christian Greeks. Del Valle believes that NATO, which Turkey belongs to, is not the key for the entry into the European Union. Saying that it is necessary to integrate Turkey so as to show that Europe is not a Christian club and does not reject an Islamic candidate is not rational. And seeing Turkey as a secular exception and natural ally against Islamism thanks to the legacy of Kemal Atatürk is erroneous. Because the new post-Kemalist Turkey, led by Erdoğan
and Islamic ruling party AKP
, allows and claims back all that which was rejected by Atatürk: the hijab
, the Islamic political parties and compulsory religious instruction at school.
Del Valle says that Kemalism was dismantled in the 1950s and '60s with the governments of Adnan Menderes
and Süleyman Demirel
and became politically dead under Turgut Özal
, the architect of the re-Islamization which abolished the article 163 that had prohibited the Islamic parties. A country like Turkey which is ruled by a party stemming from an Islamic movement which has been attaining victory in elections since the beginning of the 90s is not any more a secular and kemalist country. But it is what he calls a "post-Kemalist" state.
The main theory of Del Valle is that Europe and US have become the main allies who are capable of dismantling the militarist-Kemalist power in Turkey in the name of western democracy. The first goal of AKP is to avenge, after having perfected the de-Kemalization of the country, the affront suffered in 1923 at the time of the abolition of the Caliphate
and the Sharia
. By the way, if Turkey would access the European Union, Europe would have for its immediate neighbors Iran of the Mullahs, Syria - both sponsors of Hezbollah - and Iraq.
Finally, he advocates that the best way to preserve the Kemalist exception and secularism in Turkey would keep Turkey outside of Europe and to build what President Nicolas Sarkozy
calls a special partnership.
in the Middle East Quarterly
published in September 1998. Although Ye'or reproached Del Valle for his hostility to the Clinton administration
, she congratulated him for his attempt to "courageously expose the dangers of Islamism."
In another article published in the Middle East Quarterly
in Spring 2000, French-American geopolitician Laurent Murawiec
characterized Del Valle as hostile to Muslims and criticized his analysis of the United States' pro-Muslim strategy during the Cold War. In his response to Murawiec, Del Valle wrote that "history and the tragedy of September 11 have proven me right." He claimed that Murawiec omitted to mention that his later books, such as Le Totalitarisme Islamiste a l'assaut des démocraties, have been labeled as both "pro-American and pro-Zionist." Additionally, since the September 11 attacks in 2001, Del Valle has written chronicles and articles published in Le Figaro and Politique Internationale where he calls for a union to be formed with the United States and in which he denounces all forms of anti-western and anti-American feelings. Murawiec himself has written an essay which also deplores the present pro-Saudi and pro-islamist strategy and politically correctness of American presidents who never dared nominating Saudi Arabia and wahhabism as the real enemy and the supporters of radical Islam.
In 2002, Del Valle was criticized by extreme-right, left wing and extreme left magazines such as Le Monde Diplomatique
and the pro-Palestinian and anti-zionist MRAP. Some extreme right movements, believing that Alexandre del Valle had been close to their visions in his early writings on Islamism and America, denounce now his Zionism
and the fact he was very close to the Jewish Community. or The "outing" of Alexandre del Valle, reveals its close links with the Zionist ultra-right.
In an article published in April 2002, French far-left-trotskyst organisation Ras l'front claims that Alexandre Del Valle had originally set out its arguments in far right-wing circles
, especially during lectures at meetings of the ultra right or the New Right
. Del Valle refutes the claims and bring the matter in courts. These trials with peripeteias eventually resulted in a decision from the 11th Chamber of the Court of appeal of Paris
in 2005, which dismissed Del Valle who carried out an action for defamation against Ras L'front (diffamation).
In two other trials, Alexandre del Valle and his lawyer, , the French President of "Droit à la Sécurité" and "France Israël association" (who also was Oriana Fallaci
's lawyer in France), won two other cases : one in 2006 against the MRAP, an anti-racist organization led by French communist Mouloud Aounit, and a second against Canal+
(TV Channel), in 2007 (17th court of Paris). The 17th court of Paris dismissed the MRAP, who had published in 2003 a special report on anti-Arabs, Zionists and Far right networks in France. This MRAP Report blamed Alexandre del Valle and other intellectuals such as , Michel Darmon (former France-Israel's President) or William Goldnadel to be Islamophobes and to support Zionist organizations such as the UPJF (Union of French Jewish Chairmans), Likoud, KKL
, or Bnai Brith. The 17th Court of Appeal decided that the MRAP did not have the right to accuse Alexandre del Valle to be "islamophobe" and was dismissed after having tried to make Del Valle and Guy Millière condemned for abusive action for defamation.
Del Valle does not deny that he made errors in the past making speeches with controversial intellectuals from every political creed in the context of the presentations of his books. But he precises that his political "godfathers" were gaullists and former popular "resistants" such as , Pierre Marie Gallois
, the former nuclear and geopolitical adviser of Charles De Gaulle
, Gabriel Kaspereit and Jean Matteoli
.
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
, and researcher at Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics
Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics
Headquartered in the heart of Paris, France, Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics is an independent research center that analyzes international relations, economic and political strategies as well as international cultures....
. His research focuses on radical Islam, terrorism and Turkey's accession to European Union. Del Valle is a proponent of Red-Green-Brown Alliance
Red-green-brown alliance
The term Red-Green-Brown alliance, originating in France, refers to the alleged alliance of Communists , anti-globalist Environmentalists and/or Islamists , and Ultranationalists...
theory.
Personal life
Del Valle was born in MarseilleMarseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, France, on September 6, 1969. He is a son of Pieds-Noirs. His father was a Sicilian from Tunisia and his mother an anti-Francoist
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
Spaniard from Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
, Algeria. In 2001, he married a Jewish Argentine woman, Monica Althman. The name Alexandre Del Valle is reportedly a pseudonym he uses for safety reasons because of the controversial nature of his books.
Education
Del Valle attended the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies and obtained a diploma at the Institute of Political StudiesInstitut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence
The Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence , also known as the Institut d'études politiques or "Sciences Po Aix", is a grande école in political sciences, established in 1956 in the premises of the former Faculty of Law of the Université de Provence, France...
of Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
. He specialized in international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
and the geopolitics of the Arab-Muslim world.
He also received a Diplôme d'études approfondies (DEA) on Military History-security-defense at the Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence
Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence
The Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence , also known as the Institut d'études politiques or "Sciences Po Aix", is a grande école in political sciences, established in 1956 in the premises of the former Faculty of Law of the Université de Provence, France...
(Institute of Political Studies), a Diplôme d'études approfondies of European History of doctrines and political institutions at the Università degli Studi di Milano with Professor Albertoni circa 1994.
Alexandre del Valle has studied the political life of Lebanon and the legal status of Jewish and Christian minorities in Muslims states at the Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik
Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik
Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik , , is a private Catholic higher education institution founded by the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1961....
, Beyrouth. Del Valle has also studied geopolitics and Islamic World with Yves Lacoste
Yves Lacoste
Yves Lacoste is a French geographer and geopolitician. He was born in Fes, Morocco. In 1976 he established the French geopolitical journal "Hérodote"...
, Pierre-Marie Gallois, Bruno Étienne, Gilles Kepel
Gilles Kepel
Gilles Kepel is a French political scientist, specialist of the Islam and contemporary Arab world. He is Professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and member of the Institut Universitaire de France....
and Bat Ye'Or
Bat Ye'or
Bat Ye'or is a pseudonym of Gisèle Littman, née Orebi, an Egyptian-born British writer and political commentator who writes about the history of non-Muslims in the Middle East, and in particular the history of Christian and Jewish dhimmis living under Islamic governments.She is the author of eight...
.
Columnist career
He is a regular columnist at Le FigaroLe Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
, France Soir
France Soir
France Soir is a French daily newspaper that prospered during the 1950s and 1960s, but it has declined since then under various owners. It was re-launched as a populist tabloid in 2006.-History:...
, Israel Magazine, La Une
La Une
La Une is a Belgian national television channel, owned and operated by RTBF.- INR :The Institut National de Radiodiffusion began experimental television in Belgium on 2 June 1953, with the crowning of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom...
, Risk, Europa dei Popoli, Il Liberal, Il Borghese del Nord, and others. He publishes articles in geopolitical magazines and reviews such as Daedalos Papers, Nova Storica, Politique Internationale
Politique internationale
Politique internationale is a French political affairs journal, dedicated in particular to international relations. Over the past 32 years, Politique Internationale has been recognized as one of the influential French-language publications addressing international issues...
, Herodote, Outre Terre, Geostrategics, Geopolitical affairs, Stratégiques, Géoéconomie, and others.
Academic career
He is the co-founder and member of the Scientific Council of Geopolitics of Daedalos Institute, based in NicosiaNicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
, Cyprus. Currently, he teaches geopolitics at the Ecole de Guerre Economique (EGE) and is an associate researcher at the Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics
Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics
Headquartered in the heart of Paris, France, Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics is an independent research center that analyzes international relations, economic and political strategies as well as international cultures....
.
Since 2004, in the framework of Daedalos Institute, Alexandre del Valle is studying the growth of Political Islam in Turkey and its application to join the European Union
Accession of Turkey to the European Union
Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...
.
Del Valle claims to work with moderate Muslims such as Mezri Haddad, Houchang Nahavandi, Jbil Kebir or Mohamed Sifaoui, who publicly supported him and explained that Alexandre del Valle was a supporter of a modern and secular Islam and only denounced radical Islam just as many Muslims do.
Political career
Together with Rachid Kaci, Del Valle co-founded "The Free RightThe Free Right
The Free Right is a liberal-conservative faction within the Union for a Popular Movement founded and led by Rachid Kaci and Alexandre del Valle...
" , a liberal-conservative
Liberal conservatism
Liberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...
faction within the Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
(UMP). Their slogan is "Secularity, defense of the West and Freedom, and struggle against political correctness." Before joining the UMP, Del Valle was a member of the Rally for the Republic
Rally for the Republic
The Rally for the Republic , was a French right-wing political party. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic , it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullism...
, a French right-wing political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
.
Main ideas, beliefs and present researches
Alexandre del Valle has earned a geopolitical PhD on the Red-green-brown allianceRed-green-brown alliance
The term Red-Green-Brown alliance, originating in France, refers to the alleged alliance of Communists , anti-globalist Environmentalists and/or Islamists , and Ultranationalists...
. He contributes to a better analysis of new totalitarian threats. One of his major references is Karl Popper
Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics...
and his historical work: The Open Society and its Enemies
The Open Society and Its Enemies
The Open Society and Its Enemies is an influential two-volume work by Karl Popper written during World War II. Failing to find a publisher in the United States, it was first printed in London by Routledge in 1945...
.
Del Valle describes what he calls the new Western and European Munich in the face of Islamist fascism. Like Bat Ye'or
Bat Ye'or
Bat Ye'or is a pseudonym of Gisèle Littman, née Orebi, an Egyptian-born British writer and political commentator who writes about the history of non-Muslims in the Middle East, and in particular the history of Christian and Jewish dhimmis living under Islamic governments.She is the author of eight...
, he also analyzes the dhimmitude
Dhimmitude
Dhimmitude is a neologism first found in French denoting an attitude of concession, surrender and appeasement towards Islamic demands. It is derived by adding the productive suffix -tude to the Arabic language adjective dhimmi, which literally means protected and refers to a non-Muslim subject of a...
which has gradually been befalling the declining "psychologically as well as demographically" countries of Europe which seem to be sinking into a condition which Ye'or has described as "Eurabia
Eurabia
Eurabia is a conspiracy theory about the alleged Arabization and Islamization of Europe, and the European leaders' alleged capitulation to Islamic influences.-Origin of the term:...
."
Theory on the Red-Green-Brown Alliance
Del Valle describes the emergence of a Red-Green-Brown Axis: the Red of the extreme left, the Brown of the extreme right, and the Green of IslamismIslamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
., The different components of this Axis have for a common objective the struggle against the new faces of Evil: America, Israel,Imperialism, and even the West in its entirety .
According to his theories, Islamism, the third totalitarianism after Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and communism, extends the aspirations of its two predecessors: seizing the struggle of civilizations and religions then declaring war on the non-Muslim world in the name of the "dispossessed". This totalitarianism seduces as much those nostalgics for the pagan Third Reich, resolved to eradicate Judaism and Christianity, as it does those partisans of communism, determined to come to blows with capitalism and the West.
This junction of Red, Brown and Green totalitarianisms around the cause of Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
martyrs, Iraqis and Afghans, as much as the revolutionary figure of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
, confirms the leadership, henceforth uncontested, of revolutionary Islamism. From now on, this exerts a real fascination upon the other totalitarian options defeated by history (Nazism and Communism) and, consequently, condemned either to reconstitute themselves or to join the Islamist revolution in order to pursue their struggle against liberal democracies. According to Alexandre Del Valle, this alliance between the New Third World (Hugo Chavez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
's anti-American
Anti-Americanism
The term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
regime and its Bolivian and Cuban allies), the Islamists and the Rogue State
Rogue state
Rogue state is a controversial term applied by some international theorists to states they consider threatening to the world's peace. This means meeting certain criteria, such as being ruled by authoritarian regimes that severely restrict human rights, sponsor terrorism, and seek to proliferate...
s such as Iran, Syria, North Korea, Sudan and pro-Palestinian terrorists movements will be in the future the Main danger for both North America and Europe.
Pan-West: The New Paradigm
Alexandre Del Valle has advocated for the creation of a new "pan-Western" organization which would gather more strongly USA and old EuropeOld Europe
Old Europe is a term that was first used by then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in January 2003 to refer to European countries that did not support the 2003 invasion of Iraq, specifically France and Germany...
. He believes America and Europe should convince Russia to join its alliance instead of supporting anti-Western
Anti-Western sentiment
Anti-Western sentiment refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, or governments in the western world. In many cases the United States, Israël and the United Kingdom are the subject of discussion or hostility...
coalitions led by China, Iran and Venezuela. In 2000, after the Kosovo war
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
, Del Valle wrote that it is necessary for the West to criticize Washington and European mistakes when USA and EU supported the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and continue to do so. He also deplored the anti-Russian and anti-Serbian attitudes that agitated the Cold War period and incited Moscow to join the anti-western Axis. Back then, he condemns those expressing anti-American
Anti-Americanism
The term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
feelings in Europe, Latin-America and Russia. He suggests the promotion of a strategic alliance between the three western keystone states. USA, Orthodox Europe
Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity comprises the Christian traditions and churches that developed in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Northeastern Africa, India and parts of the Far East over several centuries of religious antiquity. The term is generally used in Western Christianity to...
and Western Europe should build a stronger alliance in the face of Islamic threat.
Theory on post-Kemalist Turkey
Del Valle opposes the accession of Turkey to the European UnionAccession of Turkey to the European Union
Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...
. In his opinion, Turkey is neither European culturally nor geographically (except for Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
and Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
). Even if a small Kemalist minority or the inhabitants of the posh suburbs of Istanbul feel European, the inhabitants of east Istanbul, Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
or Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
feel closer to their Iraqi neighbors than to Europeans or Christian Greeks. Del Valle believes that NATO, which Turkey belongs to, is not the key for the entry into the European Union. Saying that it is necessary to integrate Turkey so as to show that Europe is not a Christian club and does not reject an Islamic candidate is not rational. And seeing Turkey as a secular exception and natural ally against Islamism thanks to the legacy of Kemal Atatürk is erroneous. Because the new post-Kemalist Turkey, led by Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
and Islamic ruling party AKP
AKP
-Companies:* Aamir Khan Productions, an Indian motion picture production and distribution company, based in Mumbai.-Political parties:* Justice and Development Party of Turkey , a Turkish political party* Ang Kapatiran, a Philippine political party...
, allows and claims back all that which was rejected by Atatürk: the hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
, the Islamic political parties and compulsory religious instruction at school.
Del Valle says that Kemalism was dismantled in the 1950s and '60s with the governments of Adnan Menderes
Adnan Menderes
Adnan Menderes was the first democratically elected Turkish Prime Minister between 1950–1960. He was one of the founders of the Democratic Party in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. He was hanged by the military junta after the 1960 coup d'état, along with two other cabinet...
and Süleyman Demirel
Süleyman Demirel
Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel, better known as Süleyman Demirel , is a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister seven times and was the ninth President of Turkey.-Life:Demirel was born in İslamköy, a town in Isparta Province...
and became politically dead under Turgut Özal
Turgut Özal
Halil Turgut Özal was Prime Minister of Turkey and President of Turkey . As Prime Minister, he transformed the economy of Turkey by paving the way for the privatization of many state enterprises.-Early life and career:...
, the architect of the re-Islamization which abolished the article 163 that had prohibited the Islamic parties. A country like Turkey which is ruled by a party stemming from an Islamic movement which has been attaining victory in elections since the beginning of the 90s is not any more a secular and kemalist country. But it is what he calls a "post-Kemalist" state.
The main theory of Del Valle is that Europe and US have become the main allies who are capable of dismantling the militarist-Kemalist power in Turkey in the name of western democracy. The first goal of AKP is to avenge, after having perfected the de-Kemalization of the country, the affront suffered in 1923 at the time of the abolition of the Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
and the Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. By the way, if Turkey would access the European Union, Europe would have for its immediate neighbors Iran of the Mullahs, Syria - both sponsors of Hezbollah - and Iraq.
Finally, he advocates that the best way to preserve the Kemalist exception and secularism in Turkey would keep Turkey outside of Europe and to build what President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
calls a special partnership.
Controversies
Del Valle's first book, Islamism and the United States: An Alliance against Europe, sparked controversy in France and in the United States. In the book, Del Valle claimed the U.S. government was deliberately using Islam to destroy Europe. This theory was criticized by Bat Ye'orBat Ye'or
Bat Ye'or is a pseudonym of Gisèle Littman, née Orebi, an Egyptian-born British writer and political commentator who writes about the history of non-Muslims in the Middle East, and in particular the history of Christian and Jewish dhimmis living under Islamic governments.She is the author of eight...
in the Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly is a peer reviewed quarterly journal, a publication of the American conservative think tank Middle East Forum founded by Daniel Pipes in 1994. It is devoted to subjects relating to the Middle East and Islam and analyzes the region "explicitly from the viewpoint of American...
published in September 1998. Although Ye'or reproached Del Valle for his hostility to the Clinton administration
Presidency of Bill Clinton
The United States Presidency of Bill Clinton, also known as the Clinton Administration, was the executive branch of the federal government of the United States from January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001. Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second full term...
, she congratulated him for his attempt to "courageously expose the dangers of Islamism."
In another article published in the Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly is a peer reviewed quarterly journal, a publication of the American conservative think tank Middle East Forum founded by Daniel Pipes in 1994. It is devoted to subjects relating to the Middle East and Islam and analyzes the region "explicitly from the viewpoint of American...
in Spring 2000, French-American geopolitician Laurent Murawiec
Laurent Murawiec
Laurent Murawiec was a French neoconservative figure, member of the Hudson Institute and of the Committee on the Present Danger, and formerly defence analyst at the RAND corporation. Murawiec was an associate of Lyndon LaRouche from 1973–1986, and wrote for Larouche's Executive Intelligence Review...
characterized Del Valle as hostile to Muslims and criticized his analysis of the United States' pro-Muslim strategy during the Cold War. In his response to Murawiec, Del Valle wrote that "history and the tragedy of September 11 have proven me right." He claimed that Murawiec omitted to mention that his later books, such as Le Totalitarisme Islamiste a l'assaut des démocraties, have been labeled as both "pro-American and pro-Zionist." Additionally, since the September 11 attacks in 2001, Del Valle has written chronicles and articles published in Le Figaro and Politique Internationale where he calls for a union to be formed with the United States and in which he denounces all forms of anti-western and anti-American feelings. Murawiec himself has written an essay which also deplores the present pro-Saudi and pro-islamist strategy and politically correctness of American presidents who never dared nominating Saudi Arabia and wahhabism as the real enemy and the supporters of radical Islam.
In 2002, Del Valle was criticized by extreme-right, left wing and extreme left magazines such as Le Monde Diplomatique
Le Monde diplomatique
Le Monde diplomatique is a monthly newspaper offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first created mainly for a diplomatic audience as its name implies...
and the pro-Palestinian and anti-zionist MRAP. Some extreme right movements, believing that Alexandre del Valle had been close to their visions in his early writings on Islamism and America, denounce now his Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
and the fact he was very close to the Jewish Community. or The "outing" of Alexandre del Valle, reveals its close links with the Zionist ultra-right.
In an article published in April 2002, French far-left-trotskyst organisation Ras l'front claims that Alexandre Del Valle had originally set out its arguments in far right-wing circles
History of far right movements in France
The far-right tradition in France finds its origins in the Third Republic with the Boulangism and the Dreyfus Affair.- The Third Republic from 1871 to 1914 :...
, especially during lectures at meetings of the ultra right or the New Right
Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...
. Del Valle refutes the claims and bring the matter in courts. These trials with peripeteias eventually resulted in a decision from the 11th Chamber of the Court of appeal of Paris
Court of Appeal (disambiguation)
A court of appeal is an appellate court.Court of Appeal may refer to:In Australia:*Australian Capital Territory Court of Appeal, name used by the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory exercising its appeal jurisdiction...
in 2005, which dismissed Del Valle who carried out an action for defamation against Ras L'front (diffamation).
In two other trials, Alexandre del Valle and his lawyer, , the French President of "Droit à la Sécurité" and "France Israël association" (who also was Oriana Fallaci
Oriana Fallaci
Oriana Fallaci was an Italian journalist, author, and political interviewer. A former partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career...
's lawyer in France), won two other cases : one in 2006 against the MRAP, an anti-racist organization led by French communist Mouloud Aounit, and a second against Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
(TV Channel), in 2007 (17th court of Paris). The 17th court of Paris dismissed the MRAP, who had published in 2003 a special report on anti-Arabs, Zionists and Far right networks in France. This MRAP Report blamed Alexandre del Valle and other intellectuals such as , Michel Darmon (former France-Israel's President) or William Goldnadel to be Islamophobes and to support Zionist organizations such as the UPJF (Union of French Jewish Chairmans), Likoud, KKL
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
, or Bnai Brith. The 17th Court of Appeal decided that the MRAP did not have the right to accuse Alexandre del Valle to be "islamophobe" and was dismissed after having tried to make Del Valle and Guy Millière condemned for abusive action for defamation.
Del Valle does not deny that he made errors in the past making speeches with controversial intellectuals from every political creed in the context of the presentations of his books. But he precises that his political "godfathers" were gaullists and former popular "resistants" such as , Pierre Marie Gallois
Pierre Marie Gallois
Pierre Marie Gallois was a French air force brigadier general and geopolitician. He was instrumental in the constitution of the French nuclear arsenal. This earned him the nickname of father of the French atom bomb...
, the former nuclear and geopolitical adviser of Charles De Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
, Gabriel Kaspereit and Jean Matteoli
Jean Mattéoli
Jean Mattéoli was a French politician. He was the Minister of Social Affairs during the Raymond Barre administration from 1979 to 1981 and also served as president of the French Economic and Social Council from April 1987 and September 1999.-Biography:Hired in shares of the French Resistance in...
.
External links
- Alexandre del Valle - French Official Website
- Alexandre del Valle - French Official Blog
- Alexandre del Valle - Italian Official Website
- Interview with Alexandre del Valle about Islamist Totalitarianism
- Debate between Tariq Ramadan and Alexandre del Valle
- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x578xf_ce-soir-ou-jamais-intervention-dale_newsDebate at the French Public Television with Gilles Kepel and Mohamed Mahmoud Ould MohamedouMohamed Mahmoud Ould MohamedouMohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou sometimes spelled Mohammad-Mahmoud Mohamedou is a Harvard University scholar and Mauritanian diplomat and academic, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation from 2008 until 2009...
on Al Qaida]