Harki

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (January 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Harki]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Harki}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Harki (adjective from the Algerian Arabic "ḥarka", standard Arabic "ḥaraka" [حركة], "war party" or "movement", i.e., a group of volunteer militia) is the generic term for native Muslim Algerians who served as auxiliaries alongside the French Army during the Algerian War from 1954 to 1962. The word sometimes applies to all Algerian Muslims (thus including civilians) who supported French Algeria during the war. The motives for enlisting were mixed. They were regarded as traitors in independent Algeria and thousands of them were reportedly killed after the war in reprisals, despite the Évian Accords ceasefire and amnesty stipulations. President Charles de Gaulle controversially made the decision to not give the Harkis sanctuary in France, viewing them as "soldiers of fortune" who should be discharged as soon as possible.^[1][2]

In France the term can apply to Franco-musulmans rapatriés (repatriated French Muslims) living in the country since 1962 - and to their metropolitan-born descendants. In this sense, the term Harki refers to a social group - a fraction of the French Muslims from Algeria - as distinct from other French of Algerian origin, or from Algerians living in France.

The French government wanted to avoid their massive resettlement in France. Early arrivals were interned in remote detainee camps and were victimized by endemic racism.^[1] By 2012, however, 800,000 Harkis, Pieds-Noirs and their descendants over the age of 18 lived in France.^[3] French President Jacques Chirac established 25 September 2001 as the Day of National Recognition for the Harkis. On 14 April 2012, President Nicolas Sarkozy recognized France's "historical responsibility" in abandoning Harki French Muslim veterans at the time of the war.^[4]