Global News, Canada
April 24 2014
Armenians commemorate 1915 killings
By Staff The Associated Press
VIDEO ABOVE: Analysis of Armenian PM calling 1915 massacre “shared
pain”. Armenians living in Turkey have welcomed Turkey’s
unprecedented, conciliatory message to Armenians, released by the
country’s Prime Minister on the eve of the anniversary of the massacre
of Armenians almost a century ago.
EREVAN, Armenia – Armenians are making their annual commemoration of
the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks,
unsatisfied by an unprecedented conciliatory message by Turkey’s
premier.
The killings in 1915 are regarded by many historians as the first
genocide of the 20th century. Turkey rejects the term “genocide,” says
the death figure is inflated and that people died on both sides as the
Ottoman Empire collapsed amid World War I.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called the
events “our shared pain” and acknowledged that the deportation of
Armenians had “inhumane consequences.”
But amid commemoration ceremonies in the Armenian capital on Thursday,
presidential chief of staff Vigen Sargsian said Erdogan’s message
consisted of “the known theses of Turkish propaganda, putting victims
and executioners on the same plane.”