French foreign minister says France may host a Turkish-Armenian joint history commission meeting

ANKARA (A.A) - France's foreign minister said on Friday that his country could host a Turkish-Armenian joint history commission meeting. Alain Juppe defined the incidents of 1915 as a challenging issue, and all big countries were making a memory homework about their history. Such a memory homework could be done in a history commission, Juppe told a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara. Juppe defined those days as a troublesome days for both Turkey and Armenia, and said France may host such a meeting. The French foreign minister expressed thought that a significant progress could be made in such a meeting. Davutoglu, in his part, said Turkey had accepted Juppe's call for establishment of a joint history commission to investigate incidents of 1915. "We are ready to discuss our own history and other countries' history in an atmosphere of mutual respect and freedom," he said. Davutoglu said however, Turkey was against laws and resolutions that would make its self-defense impossible, and noted that there was such a resolution at the French Senate today. "Implementation of this resolution is against French intellectual tradition and freedom of thought," Davutoglu said. Davutoglu said Turkey would welcome any initiative from France regarding establishment of a joint history commission between Turkey and Armenia, and hoped that it would contribute to Turkish-Armenian rapprochement and normalize relations.  In 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to the then Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and proposed to establish a joint commission of historians to study the Ottoman-era incidents of 1915.