Turkey recalls ambassadors to France, Canada over Armenian issue

According to China's Xinhua news agency, Tan told reporters that Turkey's Ambassador to France Osman Koruturk and Ambassador to Canada Aydemir Erman have been called back to Ankara for a short time to have consultations on recent "baseless" Armenian genocide allegations in these two countries.

The two ambassadors are expected to return to the two countries where they are assigned to after the consultations, he added.

The Turkish move came after Canadian parliament has adopted a resolution, acknowledging the Armenian claims, while Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper used the expression "Armenian genocide" in his remarks recently.

Meanwhile, French parliament will debate over a bill on May 18, which makes any rejection of the so-called "Armenian genocide" a crime.

Turkey has warned France that bilateral ties could suffer if the French parliament adopts the bill.

Turkey has always rejected the claims that 1.5 million Armenians died as a result of systematic genocide during the Turkish Ottoman period between 1915 and 1923.

However, Turkey does acknowledge that up to 300,000 Armenians and at least the same number of Turks died in civil strifes when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops invading Ottoman soil.

Ankara has been calling for the formation of a joint research commission between Turkish and Armenian historians to find out the truth of the history.