POPE FRANCIS RISKS INTERNATIONAL OUTRAGE BY USING TERM ‘GENOCIDE’ TO DESCRIBE ARMENIA MASSACRE
Catholic Online
April 14 2015
Risking international opinion and possibly stirring up anger throughout
Turkey, Pope Francis used the word “genocide” to refer to the mass
killings of Armenians a century ago under the Ottoman Empire.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – “In the past century, our human
family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies,”
the Pope said at a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. The occasion
commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Armenian massacres.
“The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the
20th century,’ struck your own Armenian people,” the pontiff said,
referencing a 2001 declaration by Pope John Paul II and the head of
the Armenian Church.
The Pope’s use of the term genocide greatly upset Turkey.
The nation recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for “consultations”
following Francis’ comments, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Turkey
had earlier summoned the ambassador from the Vatican for a meeting.
“This does not mean that our diplomatic ties with the Vatican are
over,” Turkey’s former ambassador to the Vatican, Kenan Gursoy, said.
The occasion did mark the first time Turkey has summoned its ambassador
home from the Vatican,
“Since this is a situation that we do not approve of, as a first
reaction, (the ambassador) is summoned to get consultation,”
Gursoy said, adding that the Pope’s use of the word “genocide” was
“a one-sided evaluation.”
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the Pope’s use of
the word “unacceptable” and “out of touch with both historical facts
and legal basis,” in a Tweet.
“Religious offices are not places through which hatred and animosity
are fueled by unfounded allegations,” the tweet reads.
The use of the word “genocide” occurs regularly in describing these
historical events. Armenians are equally upset, when Turkey protests
it.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, rebuked Turkey. “We are in
a situation in which Turkey speaks a different language from the rest
of the international community and it seems that it doesn’t understand
that it is speaking a different language,” he said to reporters.
“During these past days there have been several international
organizations that adopt resolutions or issue statements that recognize
the Armenian genocide and that appeal to Turkey to make this step,”
he said.
“The Pope’s statement is in this context of universal value. When
Turkey is able to understand this, it will be able to understand
what the International community and big personalities (or better
translations ‘leaders’) are saying.”
Turks planned and carried out genocide, starting in 1915, when more
than a million ethnic Armenians were massacred in the final years of
the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey officially denies this took place, saying hundreds of thousands
of Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims died in intercommunal
violence around the bloody battlefields of World War I.