November 8, 2009 - 17:34 AMT
Turkish FM: We want to have good relations with all Armenians
Turkish foreign minister has sought to reach out to the Armenian diaspora around the world, saying Turkey wanted to have good relations with all Armenians. "We want to establish good relations with our neighbors and with all Armenians, in Beirut or in Paris. It is for everyone's good to develop a fair memory. But we cannot build the peace and the future if everyone tells of their own pain and history. Let go of your one-sided memory shackles," Ahmet Davutoglu told a press briefing in Paris after a meeting with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.

"I know that my grandfathers, too, have suffered. I know the pains of those who were forced to leave their their homes in the Caucasus or the Balkans," Davutoglu said.

Davutoglu said Turkey had proposed "a new vision and a horizon" in offering to set up a joint study with Armenians and historians from other countries to examine all the facts around the incidents of 1915.

"We can only build a better future with a fair memory," Davutoglu said, Anatolian News Agency reported.