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Turkey FM Slams Pope's 'Genocide' Remarks

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  • Turkey FM Slams Pope's 'Genocide' Remarks

    TURKEY FM SLAMS POPE'S 'GENOCIDE' REMARKS

    Turkish Government News
    April 13, 2015 Monday

    Ankara

    The Turkish Government has issued the following press release:

    Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu dismissed Pope's "genocide"
    remarks as "baseless claims," after Ankara reacted to the pontiff
    referring to the 1915 incidents as "genocide."

    Cavusoglu said: "Pope's statement is devoid of any historical or
    legal facts. Religious posts are not for fueling grudge and hatred
    with baseless claims."

    Ankara has summoned the Vatican envoy to Turkey and conveyed the
    message that the incident has caused "loss of trust" and would be
    met with a response.

    Cavusoglu's remarks came after Pope Francis called the 1915 incidents
    involving Armenians "genocide" on Sunday at the St. Peter Basilica.

    "In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive
    and unprecedented tragedies," Pope said.

    "The first, which is widely considered the first genocide of the
    twentieth century, struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian
    nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans
    and Greeks and, more recently, there have been other mass killings,
    like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia," the pontiff said.

    In 2014, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences
    for the first time to all Ottoman citizens who lost their lives in
    the events of 1915.

    "May Armenians who lost their lives in the events in the early
    twentieth century rest in peace, and we convey our condolences to
    their grandchildren," Erdogan said.

    The 1915 events took place during World War I when a portion of
    the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the
    invading Russians and revolted.

    Pope's remarks contradict historical facts: Turkish FM

    Pope Francis' description about the 1915 incidents as "genocide"
    contradicts historical and legal facts, Turkish Foreign Minister
    Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday.

    Addressing a joint press conference with his Mongolian counterpart
    Lundeg Purevsuren in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator, Cavusoglu
    said: "The pope called the 1915 incidents a 'genocide,' which lacks
    any competent court judgment, while describing the events that took
    place in Bosnia and Rwanda as 'mass killings,' which are recognized as
    genocides by competent international courts. There is a contradiction
    and discrimination there."

    During Sunday's Mass at the St. Peter's Basilica, which Armenian
    President Serzh Sargsyan also attended, the pontiff said: "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,
    as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and
    Greeks and, more recently, there have been other mass killings,
    like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia."

    Responding to the pope's remarks, the Turkish foreign minister said:
    "Before anything else, Pope Francis' statements contradict historical
    and legal facts. With a selective point of view, he ignored the
    tragedies that befell on the Turkish and Muslim people who had lost
    their lives in World War I."

    He added, "History was instrumentalized for political aims."

    Cavusoglu said that as a reverend, the pope should be giving
    brotherly, peaceful messages against racism, discrimination and
    xenophobia. "Statements which are controversial in every aspect, based
    on prejudices, distorting the history and confining the sufferings
    in Anatolia to a single religious community are declared null and
    void by the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish nation," he said.

    Meanwhile, Turkey's ambassador to the Holy See, Prof. Mehmet Pacaci,
    who was summoned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday for
    consultations, arrived in Ankara early Monday.

    'Great tragedy'

    The Ottoman Empire relocated Armenians in eastern Anatolia following
    the revolts and there were Armenian casualties during the relocation
    process.

    Armenia has demanded an apology and compensation, while Turkey has
    officially refuted Armenian allegations over the incidents saying that,
    although Armenians died during the relocations, many Turks also lost
    their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian gangs in Anatolia.

    The Turkish government has repeatedly called on historians to study
    Ottoman archives pertaining to the era in order to uncover what
    actually happened between the Ottoman government and its Armenian
    citizens.

    The debate on "genocide" and the differing opinions between the
    present day Turkish government and the Armenian diaspora, along with
    the current administration in Yerevan, still generates political
    tension between Turks and Armenians.

    Turkey's official position against allegations of "genocide" is that
    it acknowledges the past experiences were a great tragedy and that both
    parties suffered heavy casualties, including hundreds of Muslim Turks.

    Ankara agrees that there were certainly Armenian casualties during
    World War I, but says that it is impossible to define these incidents
    as "genocide."

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