TURKEY SENDS CONDOLENCES TO DESCENDANTS OF KILLED ARMENIANS TO MARK CENTENARY
Fox News
April 20 2015
Published April 20, 2015
Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s prime minister said a ceremony would be
held in Istanbul to commemorate Armenians killed a century ago by
Ottoman Turks and again issued condolences to their descendants.
However, in a message released Monday, Ahmet Davutoglu stopped short
of calling the slaughter of Armenians genocide and criticized efforts
to force Turkey to admit to the crime.
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Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey however,
denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been
inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
The message came days before Armenians mark the centenary of the
killings on April 24.