ERDOGAN WARNS POPE FRANCIS NOT TO REPEAT ‘MISTAKE’ ABOUT ARMENIAN CLAIMS
Hurriyet Daily News
April 14 2015
ANKARA
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has condemned Pope Francis,
warning him to not repeat the “mistake” of describing the mass killings
of Ottoman Armenians as “genocide.”
“Whenever politicians, religious functionaries assume the duties of
historians, then delirium comes out, not fact. Hereby, I want to
repeat our call to establish a joint commission of historians and
stress we are ready to open our archives. I want to warn the pope to
not repeat this mistake and condemn him,” Erdoðan said at a meeting
of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TÃM) on April 14.
Erdoðan said he greatly regretted the pontiff’s weekend remarks in
which the leader of the world’s Catholics referred to the killings of
Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as “the first genocide of the 20th century.”
“In the past century our human family has lived through three
massive and unprecedented tragedies,” the pope said. “The first,
which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th century,’
struck your own Armenian people,” he said in the presence of Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan.
Recalling the pope’s visit to Turkey in 2014, the president said
he thought the pope was “a different politician.” “I don’t say a
religious functionary,” he added.
“His remarks display the appearance of a mentality different to that
of a religious functionary,” Erdoðan said. “I won’t let historical
events be brought out of their own course and turned into a campaign
against our country and nation.”
The pope made the pronouncement during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica
commemorating the centenary that was attended by Armenian church
leaders and Sargsyan. Francis said it was his duty to honor the
memory of the innocent men, women and children who were “senselessly”
murdered by Ottoman Turks.
On April 13 the European Union urged Turkey and Armenia to normalize
ties.
EU foreign affairs spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said the EU was
encouraging the countries “to consider additional, meaningful steps
that would pave the way toward full reconciliation.”
Armenia says up to 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians were killed in a
genocide starting in 1915. Turkey denies that the deaths amounted
to genocide, saying the death toll of Armenians killed during mass
deportations has been inflated and that those killed in 1915 and 1916
were victims of general unrest during World War I.
April/14/2015
From: Baghdasarian