Turkish President Abdullah Gül: "Big nations aren't afraid of their history".

Turkish President Abdullah Gül has said he thinks it would not be a problem to unveil archival documents concerning the Dersim tragedy, adding that big nations aren't afraid of their history.

"I believe it wouldn't be a problem to open the archives [for the Dersim tragedy]," Gül said in response to a question asked on YouTube's World View initiative. Gül also said Turkey's history is vast and that it has "bad and good periods." He added that there were sad events in the history of Turkey that could not be justified by the modern-day understanding of human rights. "This is what I think based on the information I have," Gül stressed.

The much-debated Dersim massacre concerns the deaths of tens of thousands of Alevis at the hands of the military in 1937. According to a 1939 document Erdoğan revealed last week, 13,806 people were killed in operations carried out against the people of Dersim between 1936 and 1939. Gül noted big countries are not afraid of their history and that Turkey is already opening archives to shed light on more disputed issues.

However, the Turkish president warned against making these disputed issues "the subject of daily debates." He said he believes Turkish society is mature enough on this matter and that he thinks it should not be a problem to open the archives for scientists and historians to research the Dersim incidents.

Replying to a question on combating violence against women, Gül said that the Turkish parliament ratified a Council of Europe (COE) Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. He said that combating violence against women would be stricter in the coming period.

Regarding the Kurdish issue, the president said that there has been progress in the matter as he said that there have been democratic developments in Turkey that help to isolate the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). He claimed that that's why it staged attacks against civilians in Kızılay, Taksim and Bingöl.

Answering a question on the possibility of a civil war in Syria, Gül said that Turkey did not want to see such a thing in Syria. Those who governed Syria should take the initiative in the reform process and lead a transformation to prevent such a risk, he said. Gül also said that Turkey did not intervene in the internal affairs of its neighboring countries.

Asked whether Turkey should reconsider joining the European Union after the economic crisis in EU countries, Gül said that Turkey must work to join the EU.

"Turkey should work really hard to complete its accession process successfully," he said as the negotiation process strengthened Turkish economy, democracy and law. Replying to a question on detention periods, President Gül said he was uneasy about long detention periods.