Turkish premier criticizes pope’s statement on Armenian Genocide
13.04.2015,
15:07
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu criticized Pope Francis’ statement on Armenian Genocide calling it “not fitting of the Pope”, Novosti-Armenia reports referring to RIA Novosti.
YEREVAN, April 13. /ARKA/. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu criticized Pope Francis’ statement on Armenian Genocide calling it “not fitting of the Pope”, Novosti-Armenia reports referring to RIA Novosti.
Pope Francis on Sunday commemorated the 100th anniversary of the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians.
At a mass in the Armenian Catholic rite in St. Peter's Basilica he called the massacre "the first genocide of the 20th century".
Ankara reacted angrily to these words and immediately summoned its Vatican ambassador for consultations.
“It is unbecoming of Pope and his authority to read the 1915 incidents unilaterally and to cover the pains of others by owning the pains of only a part of mankind,” Davutoglu told journalists in Ankara.
Turkey officially denies that the genocide took place, saying hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims died in intercommunal violence around the bloody battlefields of World War I. ---0----
