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Global News, Canada
June 7 2013
Pope angers Turkey over Armenian genocide comment
By Nick Logan Global News
Pope Francis has angered the Turkish government by calling the
massacre of 1.5 million Armenians, nearly a century ago, `the first
genocide of the 20th century.'
The pontiff made the comment during a visit with a delegation of
Armenian Catholics on Monday, when one member of the group said she
was a descendant of genocide victims.
Hurriyet Daily News reported Friday the country's Foreign Ministry has
expressed its `disappointment' with the Vatican for making the
comment.
This isn't the first time Pope Francis has used the term genocide to
refer to the atrocities carried out between 1915 and 1918.
At events commemorating the killings' 91st anniversary in 2006, while
he was still a cardinal in Argentina he said the mass killings were
the `gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey.'
Turkey has long argued the mass killings and the deportation of
Armenians during World War I were not acts of genocide - rather that
Turks, then under the Ottoman Empire, were at war and atrocities were
committed on both sides.
Several countries that recognize genocide including Argentina,
Germany, Greece Russia, Lebanon and Venezuela, Vatican City and
Canada.
Read also: Obama avoids using term `genocide' in marking anniversary
of Armenian massacres
Canada has had a strained but functional relationship with Turkish
government since the federal government voted in 2004 to recognize the
genocide.
`It cannot be business as usual while accusing a nation of genocide.
It's a serious allegation. It needs to be substantiated, legally,
historically,' Turkish Ambassador Tuncay Babali told The Canadian
Press in April of this year.
Babali said he suspects Canada is not engaging economically as quickly
as Turkey would like because the genocide issue is still hanging over
relations.
He said trade between the two countries could be stronger. The
Canadian Press reported the two-way trade between the countries
amounted to $2.5 billion.
But Babali suggested it could increase to $10-$15 billion in the next
five years if Canada and Turkey formed deeper economic ties.
http://globalnews.ca/news/624150/pope-angers-turkey-over-armenian-genocide-comment/
June 7 2013
Pope angers Turkey over Armenian genocide comment
By Nick Logan Global News
Pope Francis has angered the Turkish government by calling the
massacre of 1.5 million Armenians, nearly a century ago, `the first
genocide of the 20th century.'
The pontiff made the comment during a visit with a delegation of
Armenian Catholics on Monday, when one member of the group said she
was a descendant of genocide victims.
Hurriyet Daily News reported Friday the country's Foreign Ministry has
expressed its `disappointment' with the Vatican for making the
comment.
This isn't the first time Pope Francis has used the term genocide to
refer to the atrocities carried out between 1915 and 1918.
At events commemorating the killings' 91st anniversary in 2006, while
he was still a cardinal in Argentina he said the mass killings were
the `gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey.'
Turkey has long argued the mass killings and the deportation of
Armenians during World War I were not acts of genocide - rather that
Turks, then under the Ottoman Empire, were at war and atrocities were
committed on both sides.
Several countries that recognize genocide including Argentina,
Germany, Greece Russia, Lebanon and Venezuela, Vatican City and
Canada.
Read also: Obama avoids using term `genocide' in marking anniversary
of Armenian massacres
Canada has had a strained but functional relationship with Turkish
government since the federal government voted in 2004 to recognize the
genocide.
`It cannot be business as usual while accusing a nation of genocide.
It's a serious allegation. It needs to be substantiated, legally,
historically,' Turkish Ambassador Tuncay Babali told The Canadian
Press in April of this year.
Babali said he suspects Canada is not engaging economically as quickly
as Turkey would like because the genocide issue is still hanging over
relations.
He said trade between the two countries could be stronger. The
Canadian Press reported the two-way trade between the countries
amounted to $2.5 billion.
But Babali suggested it could increase to $10-$15 billion in the next
five years if Canada and Turkey formed deeper economic ties.
http://globalnews.ca/news/624150/pope-angers-turkey-over-armenian-genocide-comment/