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ERDOGAN SLAMS POPE, WARNS HIM ON REPEATING ARMENIAN REMARK
Europe Online Magazine
April 14 2015
14.04.2015
By our dpa-correspondent
Istanbul (dpa) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday
accused Pope Francis of speaking "nonsense" and cautioned the Catholic
leader not to repeat remarks about the Armenians being victims of
"genocide."
At St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on Sunday, the pope described the
Armenians as the victims of "the first genocide of the 20th century,"
rankling Turkey, which immediately recalled its ambassador to the
Vatican for consultations in Ankara.
"The honorable pope will likely not make this mistake again," Erdogan
lashed out during a conference of Turkish exporters in Ankara, adding
that he was "warning" the Catholic leader.
"When politicians and clerics take on the work of historians, it is
not the truth that comes out but rather, like today, nonsense."
Turkish officials have slammed the pope's remarks as historically
"false."
Turkey denies that the killing and mass deportation of Armenians in
the final years of the Ottoman Empire during World War I was genocide.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed.
Turkey will also have to deal with a vote in the European Parliament
on Wednesday on a resolution which calls for joining "the commemoration
of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide."
The legislative body of the European bloc in 1987 recognized the
events as genocide. Several European nations have also recognized
the massacres as such, though others have refrained from doing so,
some fearing damage to their relations with Turkey.
On Monday, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had
desribed the killings as an "atrocity crime," and not genocide.
Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, says both Turks and
Armenians were killed in unrest during the war and accuses Armenia
of inflating the number of people who died. The deportations were
said to be for security reasons.
Official commemorations of the massacres are to take place on April
24 in Armenia. Memorial events are also scheduled in Istanbul, where
on that day in 1915 more than 200 Armenian community leaders were
rounded up by police to be deported.
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/erdogan-slams-pope-warns-him-on-repeating-armenian-genocide-remark_387284.html
From: A. Papazian
Europe Online Magazine
April 14 2015
14.04.2015
By our dpa-correspondent
Istanbul (dpa) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday
accused Pope Francis of speaking "nonsense" and cautioned the Catholic
leader not to repeat remarks about the Armenians being victims of
"genocide."
At St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on Sunday, the pope described the
Armenians as the victims of "the first genocide of the 20th century,"
rankling Turkey, which immediately recalled its ambassador to the
Vatican for consultations in Ankara.
"The honorable pope will likely not make this mistake again," Erdogan
lashed out during a conference of Turkish exporters in Ankara, adding
that he was "warning" the Catholic leader.
"When politicians and clerics take on the work of historians, it is
not the truth that comes out but rather, like today, nonsense."
Turkish officials have slammed the pope's remarks as historically
"false."
Turkey denies that the killing and mass deportation of Armenians in
the final years of the Ottoman Empire during World War I was genocide.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed.
Turkey will also have to deal with a vote in the European Parliament
on Wednesday on a resolution which calls for joining "the commemoration
of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide."
The legislative body of the European bloc in 1987 recognized the
events as genocide. Several European nations have also recognized
the massacres as such, though others have refrained from doing so,
some fearing damage to their relations with Turkey.
On Monday, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had
desribed the killings as an "atrocity crime," and not genocide.
Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, says both Turks and
Armenians were killed in unrest during the war and accuses Armenia
of inflating the number of people who died. The deportations were
said to be for security reasons.
Official commemorations of the massacres are to take place on April
24 in Armenia. Memorial events are also scheduled in Istanbul, where
on that day in 1915 more than 200 Armenian community leaders were
rounded up by police to be deported.
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/erdogan-slams-pope-warns-him-on-repeating-armenian-genocide-remark_387284.html
From: A. Papazian