EU’S SCHULZ TOLD TURKEY HE UNDERSTOOD REACTION TO GENOCIDE VOTE: SOURCES

Today Online
April 16 2015

Published: 4:20 AM, April 17, 2015

ISTANBUL – European Parliament President Martin Schulz told Turkish
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday he “understands” Ankara’s
reaction to a vote calling the 1915 mass killing of Armenians a
genocide, sources in the prime minister’s office said.

In a telephone call, Schulz also said the vote was made in his
absence, the sources, who declined to be identified, said. There was
no immediate comment from Schulz’s office.

The European Parliament backed a motion on Wednesday to call the
killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a
genocide, days after Pope Francis triggered fury in Turkey by using
the same term.

Muslim Turkey agrees that Christian Armenians were killed in clashes
with Ottoman forces that began on April 15, 1915, when large numbers
of Armenians lived in the empire ruled by Istanbul, but denies that
this amounted to genocide.

President Tayyip Erdogan said even before the vote took place that
he would ignore the result. REUTERS