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Today's Zaman, Turkey
June 7 2013
Report: Pope said Armenians were victims of 'genocide'
7 June 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
Pope Francis, the leader of the world's Roman Catholics, has labeled
the deaths of Armenians in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, an
incident that Armenia and Armenians around the world want to be
internationally recognized as `genocide.'
Turkey, which sees the allegations of genocide as a threat to its
national honor, meanwhile, says the killings were not intentionally
perpetrated to eradicate a particular ethnicity but were the result of
the wartime conditions during World War I. Turkey also notes that both
Muslim and non-Muslims died during the event.
The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics said in a meeting with
three Armenian religious functionaries who visited him at the Vatican
on June 3 that the first genocide of the 20th century was carried out
on Armenians, according to a report in the Armenian Weekly posted on
June 5.
`The first genocide of the 20th century was that of the Armenians,'
Pope Francis was quoted as saying when one of the members of the
Armenian delegation, led by Nerses Bedros XIX, Catholicos Patriarch of
Cilicia of Armenian Catholics, said that she was a descendant of
"genocide victims.'
The statement by Pope Francis is seen as a reiteration as he had
earlier recognized the so-called `Armenian genocide' while he headed
the Catholic Church in Buenos Aires as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.
The pope, while serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, in 2006
recognized and also urged Turkey to unconditionally recognize the
alleged genocide as the `gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey against the
Armenian people and the entire humanity' during a ceremony that marked
the 91st anniversary of the 1915 events.
According to the report, the statement by the pope is the first such
statement from the pontiff since being elevated to pope and leader of
the Roman Catholic Church.
June 7 2013
Report: Pope said Armenians were victims of 'genocide'
7 June 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
Pope Francis, the leader of the world's Roman Catholics, has labeled
the deaths of Armenians in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, an
incident that Armenia and Armenians around the world want to be
internationally recognized as `genocide.'
Turkey, which sees the allegations of genocide as a threat to its
national honor, meanwhile, says the killings were not intentionally
perpetrated to eradicate a particular ethnicity but were the result of
the wartime conditions during World War I. Turkey also notes that both
Muslim and non-Muslims died during the event.
The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics said in a meeting with
three Armenian religious functionaries who visited him at the Vatican
on June 3 that the first genocide of the 20th century was carried out
on Armenians, according to a report in the Armenian Weekly posted on
June 5.
`The first genocide of the 20th century was that of the Armenians,'
Pope Francis was quoted as saying when one of the members of the
Armenian delegation, led by Nerses Bedros XIX, Catholicos Patriarch of
Cilicia of Armenian Catholics, said that she was a descendant of
"genocide victims.'
The statement by Pope Francis is seen as a reiteration as he had
earlier recognized the so-called `Armenian genocide' while he headed
the Catholic Church in Buenos Aires as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.
The pope, while serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, in 2006
recognized and also urged Turkey to unconditionally recognize the
alleged genocide as the `gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey against the
Armenian people and the entire humanity' during a ceremony that marked
the 91st anniversary of the 1915 events.
According to the report, the statement by the pope is the first such
statement from the pontiff since being elevated to pope and leader of
the Roman Catholic Church.