POPE BENEDICT GREETS ARMENIAN PATRIARCH
AP Online
Mar 21, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI recalled the “terrible persecution” Armenians
suffered under Turkish rule 90 years ago during an audience Monday
with an Armenian Catholic patriarch.
Speaking to Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni about the Armenian people
over the centuries, the pope singled out the “sufferings which
they underwent in the name of the Christian faith in the years of
the terrible persecution that went down in history with the sadly
meaningful name ‘metz yeghern,’ the great evil.”
Armenians accuse Turks of a genocide of up to 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1923. Turks claim the number of deaths is inflated
and say the victims were killed in civil unrest.
The country is now facing pressure to fully acknowledge the event as
it seeks membership in the European Union.
Benedict did not use the term “genocide” in his official remarks. His
predecessor, Pope John Paul II, called the deaths genocide but did
not declare any party responsible.