TURKEY’S GRAND MUFTI ATTACKS POPE FRANCIS FOR ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’ REMARKS
Adnkronos International, Rome
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency
April 13, 2015 Monday
April 13–Turkey’s Grand Mufti Mehmet Gormez, on Monday criticised
Pope Francis for calling the World War I mass killings of Armenians
‘genocide’, comments that sparked a diplomatic row.
“It is upsetting that political lobbies and PR firms around the
world have extended [their activities] to religious institutions’
rites and prayers,” the Anadolu news quoted Gormez as saying.
“If societies start to interrogate each other over past sorrows,
the Vatican will suffer more than anyone else,” continued Gormez,
who heads the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), the main
Sunni Muslim religious authority.
Gormez expressed his “sorrow” over the Pope’s remarks, which he
described as “baseless claims,” Andalou reported.
Turkey recalled its ambassador to the Holy see after Francis said
during a mass on Sunday at St Peter’s basilica attended by Armenian
leaders that Armenians had suffered “the first genocide of the 20th
Century”.
Ankara has called Francis’ remarks as “one-sided”, “unacceptable”
and “far from accurate,” with Turkish Parliament speaker Cemil Cicek
condemning them as “slander” and “discrimination”.
Armenia says up to 1.5 million people died in 1915-16 as the Ottoman
Empire was disintegrating. Turkey has said the number of deaths was
much smaller and says ethnic Turks also suffered in the conflict.
Most non-Turkish scholars of the events regard them as genocide.
From: A. Papazian