Pune Mirror, India
April 12 2015
Pope calls Armenian massacre first genocide of 20th century
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis described the massacre of as many as 1.5
million Armenians as “the first genocide of the 20th century” at a
100th anniversary Mass on Sunday, prompting Turkey to summon the Holy
See’s ambassador in Ankara in protest.
Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes
with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the
empire ruled from Istanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands were
killed and that this amounted to genocide.
It was the first time a pope has publicly pronounced the word
“genocide” for the massacre, repeating a term used by some European
and South American countries but avoided by the US to maintain good
relations with an important ally. Francis said the other two genocides
of the 20th century were “perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism”, before
pointing to more recent mass killings in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and
Bosnia.
Francis, who has disregarded many aspects of protocol since becoming
pope two years ago, uttered the phrase during a private meeting at the
Vatican with an Armenian delegation in 2013, prompting a strong
protest from Ankara. Turkey swiftly summoned the Vatican’s ambassador
in Ankara to protest and seek an explanation.