Report: Hollande Vows to Repair Damaged Ties with Turkey

New French President Francois Hollande has vowed to try to repair damaged ties with Ankara, at a first meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Turkish media reported on Tuesday.

"Let us re-establish relations between Turkey and France, fix what has been damaged," Turkish President Abdullah Gul quoted Hollande as telling him at a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Chicago.

"I asked him if there is a conflict of interest between Turkey and France. On the contrary, we have common interests in all issues," said Gul, quoted by Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper.

Hollande promised to open a "new page" in relations, which hit a low over French objections to Turkey's bid to join the European Union and controversial legislation in France seeking to make it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide.

The law was struck down in February by France's top court on the grounds that it violated freedom of expression, but triggered protests from Turkey and and warnings of retaliation.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in a 1915-16 genocide by Turkey's former Ottoman Empire. Turkey says 500,000 died and ascribes the toll to fighting and starvation during World War I.