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ERDOGAN WARNS POPE OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REMARKS
The Times of Israel
April 14 2015
Holy See comes under fire from Turkish officials for statements on
Ottomans' mass killings in WWI
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday expressed anger over
the pope's use of the word genocide to describe the mass killings
of Armenians in World War I, saying such talk was nonsense and the
pontiff should not repeat such a mistake again.
Ankara at the weekend summoned the Vatican nuncio and recalled the
Turkish envoy to the Holy See in a furious reaction to Pope Francis'
description of the killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman
forces.
"If politicians and religious leaders do the job of historians then
we will not get to the truth and only end with nonsense," Erdogan said
in a speech in Ankara in his first reaction to the pope's comments.
"Respected pope: I condemn this mistake and warn against making it
again," he said to applause from an audience of businessmen.
Turkey has vehemently rejected the use of the term genocide to
describe the Ottoman era killings and is keeping to its line in the
100th anniversary of the tragedy.
Armenians say 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed in a targeted
campaign of extermination by Ottoman forces. The Turkish government
said hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Christians were killed on
both sides in a wartime tragedy.
The comments by the pope, who visited Turkey last November, have led
to unprecedented attacks on the pontiff by Turkish officials.
EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said Monday that the pope had made the
comment because of a strong Armenian lobby in his homeland of
Argentina.
"I think Pope Francis made this statement because he is an Argentine.
Unfortunately, in Argentina, the Armenian diaspora is dominant in
the press and business world," Bozkir said, quoted by the official
Anatolia news agency.
Referring to the influx of war criminals to Latin America after World
War II, Bozkir declared that Argentina "welcomed Nazis, who were the
lead performers of the Jewish Holocaust."
http://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-warns-pope-over-armenian-genocide-remarks/
The Times of Israel
April 14 2015
Holy See comes under fire from Turkish officials for statements on
Ottomans' mass killings in WWI
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday expressed anger over
the pope's use of the word genocide to describe the mass killings
of Armenians in World War I, saying such talk was nonsense and the
pontiff should not repeat such a mistake again.
Ankara at the weekend summoned the Vatican nuncio and recalled the
Turkish envoy to the Holy See in a furious reaction to Pope Francis'
description of the killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman
forces.
"If politicians and religious leaders do the job of historians then
we will not get to the truth and only end with nonsense," Erdogan said
in a speech in Ankara in his first reaction to the pope's comments.
"Respected pope: I condemn this mistake and warn against making it
again," he said to applause from an audience of businessmen.
Turkey has vehemently rejected the use of the term genocide to
describe the Ottoman era killings and is keeping to its line in the
100th anniversary of the tragedy.
Armenians say 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed in a targeted
campaign of extermination by Ottoman forces. The Turkish government
said hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Christians were killed on
both sides in a wartime tragedy.
The comments by the pope, who visited Turkey last November, have led
to unprecedented attacks on the pontiff by Turkish officials.
EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said Monday that the pope had made the
comment because of a strong Armenian lobby in his homeland of
Argentina.
"I think Pope Francis made this statement because he is an Argentine.
Unfortunately, in Argentina, the Armenian diaspora is dominant in
the press and business world," Bozkir said, quoted by the official
Anatolia news agency.
Referring to the influx of war criminals to Latin America after World
War II, Bozkir declared that Argentina "welcomed Nazis, who were the
lead performers of the Jewish Holocaust."
http://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-warns-pope-over-armenian-genocide-remarks/