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ARMENIAN 'GENOCIDE' REMARKS BY POPE FRANCIS SPARK ROW WITH TURKEY
National Public Radio NPR
April 13, 2015 Monday
SHOW: Morning Edition 11:00 AM EST
ANCHORS: Sylvia Poggioli
GUESTS: Francis, Ahmet Davutoglu
RENEE MONTAGNE: And yesterday, Pope Francis sparked a diplomatic
dispute with Turkey. The Pope used the word genocide to describe the
deaths of some one-and-a-half million Armenians a century ago by the
Ottoman Empire in the early days of World War I. The Pope used the
highly charged term during a mass attended by Armenian leaders.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FRANCIS: (Through interpreter) In the past century, our human family
has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first,
which is widely considered the first genocide of the 20th century,
struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation.
RENEE MONTAGNE: Turkey, which emerged from the ashes of the Ottoman
Empire, has long rejected the term genocide as applied to Armenians,
and it quickly recalled its ambassador to the Vatican. NPR's Sylvia
Poggioli joins us on the line from Rome for more. Good morning.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Good morning.
RENEE MONTAGNE: Now, when he made this statement, it was in a solemn
ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the 100th anniversary of
that slaughter. When Pope Francis visited Turkey just last November,
he did not speak of the Armenians, but he does seem to feel very
strongly about this.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Well, he sees the Armenian genocide as a harbinger of
today's persecution of Christians in the Middle East. It's one of his
biggest concerns. He's denounced what he calls the complicit silence
of the world community in the face of the modern-day slaughter of
Christians and other minorities. Yesterday, he described the Armenian
massacre as senseless slaughter followed by Nazism and Stalinism and
other mass killings. He cited Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.
It's necessary and indeed a duty, he said, to honor the memory of the
Armenian victims for whenever memory fades. It means that evil allows
wounds to fester. He added that today, too, we are experiencing a
sort of genocide created by general and collective indifference. He
spoke of Christians publicly and ruthlessly put to death, decapitated,
crucified, burned alive or forced to leave their homeland.
RENEE MONTAGNE: And Turkey reacted very strongly to the pope's words.
Here is the Turkish prime minister accusing the pope of inciting
hatred.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
AHMET DAVUTOGLU: (Through interpreter) We expect religious leaders
to call for peace and to stay away from Islamophobic and anti-Islamic
attitudes that prevail in Europe.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: And the foreign ministry said the pope's remarks
are controversial in every aspect based on prejudice, which distorts
history and reduces the pain suffered in Anatolia to members of just
one religion. Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in
clashes with soldiers when they were part of the Ottoman Empire,
but claims the numbers are inflated and rejects the genocide label.
Several European countries officially recognize the massacres as
genocide. The United States does not.
RENEE MONTAGNE: And, Sylvia, has Pope Francis undermined the Catholic
Church dialogue with Islam - something that he did promote in his
trip to Turkey?
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: It's too soon to say, but he knows what's at stake
and that his words would antagonize the Turkish government. Francis
is known for taking political risks. For example, he helped pave
the way to the U.S.-Cuba detente and intervened in 2013 to prevent
Western military strikes against the Assad regime in Syria. This is a
pope who's not afraid of provocation on issues he considers of utmost
importance. And at the end of yesterday's ceremony, he made an appeal
to heads of state in international organizations to recognize the
truth of what happened a hundred years ago without seeding, he said,
to ambiguity or compromise. And he urged reconciliation between Turkey
and Armenia.
RENEE MONTAGNE: Sylvia, thanks very much.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Thank you, Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Sylvia Poggioli speaking to us from Rome.
National Public Radio NPR
April 13, 2015 Monday
SHOW: Morning Edition 11:00 AM EST
ANCHORS: Sylvia Poggioli
GUESTS: Francis, Ahmet Davutoglu
RENEE MONTAGNE: And yesterday, Pope Francis sparked a diplomatic
dispute with Turkey. The Pope used the word genocide to describe the
deaths of some one-and-a-half million Armenians a century ago by the
Ottoman Empire in the early days of World War I. The Pope used the
highly charged term during a mass attended by Armenian leaders.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FRANCIS: (Through interpreter) In the past century, our human family
has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first,
which is widely considered the first genocide of the 20th century,
struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation.
RENEE MONTAGNE: Turkey, which emerged from the ashes of the Ottoman
Empire, has long rejected the term genocide as applied to Armenians,
and it quickly recalled its ambassador to the Vatican. NPR's Sylvia
Poggioli joins us on the line from Rome for more. Good morning.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Good morning.
RENEE MONTAGNE: Now, when he made this statement, it was in a solemn
ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the 100th anniversary of
that slaughter. When Pope Francis visited Turkey just last November,
he did not speak of the Armenians, but he does seem to feel very
strongly about this.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Well, he sees the Armenian genocide as a harbinger of
today's persecution of Christians in the Middle East. It's one of his
biggest concerns. He's denounced what he calls the complicit silence
of the world community in the face of the modern-day slaughter of
Christians and other minorities. Yesterday, he described the Armenian
massacre as senseless slaughter followed by Nazism and Stalinism and
other mass killings. He cited Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.
It's necessary and indeed a duty, he said, to honor the memory of the
Armenian victims for whenever memory fades. It means that evil allows
wounds to fester. He added that today, too, we are experiencing a
sort of genocide created by general and collective indifference. He
spoke of Christians publicly and ruthlessly put to death, decapitated,
crucified, burned alive or forced to leave their homeland.
RENEE MONTAGNE: And Turkey reacted very strongly to the pope's words.
Here is the Turkish prime minister accusing the pope of inciting
hatred.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
AHMET DAVUTOGLU: (Through interpreter) We expect religious leaders
to call for peace and to stay away from Islamophobic and anti-Islamic
attitudes that prevail in Europe.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: And the foreign ministry said the pope's remarks
are controversial in every aspect based on prejudice, which distorts
history and reduces the pain suffered in Anatolia to members of just
one religion. Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in
clashes with soldiers when they were part of the Ottoman Empire,
but claims the numbers are inflated and rejects the genocide label.
Several European countries officially recognize the massacres as
genocide. The United States does not.
RENEE MONTAGNE: And, Sylvia, has Pope Francis undermined the Catholic
Church dialogue with Islam - something that he did promote in his
trip to Turkey?
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: It's too soon to say, but he knows what's at stake
and that his words would antagonize the Turkish government. Francis
is known for taking political risks. For example, he helped pave
the way to the U.S.-Cuba detente and intervened in 2013 to prevent
Western military strikes against the Assad regime in Syria. This is a
pope who's not afraid of provocation on issues he considers of utmost
importance. And at the end of yesterday's ceremony, he made an appeal
to heads of state in international organizations to recognize the
truth of what happened a hundred years ago without seeding, he said,
to ambiguity or compromise. And he urged reconciliation between Turkey
and Armenia.
RENEE MONTAGNE: Sylvia, thanks very much.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Thank you, Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Sylvia Poggioli speaking to us from Rome.