Turkey: France can't lecture us on genocide, history

By Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - France is the last country which could lecture Turkey on genocide and history, Turkey's foreign minister said Friday, blasting a French declaration this week on the events of 1915 between Turkey and Armenia.

"France should mind its own dark history in Rwanda and Algeria," Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a NATO meeting in the Mediterranean province of Antalya.

During their struggle for independence from French colonial rule, some 1.5 million Algerians were martyred, while hundreds of thousands more were injured, went missing, or were forced from their homes.

Algeria has repeatedly asked France to acknowledge its colonial-era crimes.

Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide" but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to tackle the issue.

- Israel

Turning to Israel's recent controversial moves on the Golan Heights and West Bank, Cavusoglu said it had been encouraged by recent wrong decisions by the U.S.

"Israel must abandon its aggressive attitude and it needs to return to the two-state solution," he added.