TURKEY’S EU MINISTER REJECTS POPE’S ‘GENOCIDE’ REMARK
Anadolu Agency, Turkey
April 12 2015
12 April 2015 23:55 (Last updated 12 April 2015 23:57)
Papal statement — which called 1915 incidents ‘genocide’ — ‘tries
to derive enmity out of history,’ Minister Bozkir says.
ANKARA
Turkey’s EU Minister Volkan Bozkir has rejected Pope Francis’
statements over the 1915 incidents, which the pontiff described as
“genocide” on a Sunday Mass.
Pope Francis called the 1915 incidents involving Armenians “genocide”
during a Mass in the Armenian Catholic rite at the St. Peter’s
Basilica, which Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan also attended.
“I reject the Papal attitude, which should strive to leave a legacy
of peace and friendship for future generations, but instead tries to
derive enmity out of history,” said Turkey’s EU Minister via Twitter.
“There is no period of time in Turkey’s history that it would
be ashamed of. Efforts towards constituting an identity based on
falsified documents will fail,” he said.
Bozkir also said Pope’s “ill-fated” statement also gave credence to
the ASALA terrorism, which resulted in the martyrdom of 42 Turkish
diplomats.
In 1975 and 1984, Turkish ambassadors and diplomats were targeted
around the world by Armenian terrorist organization ASALA. With the
motive of “compelling Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly
its responsibility for the so-called Armenian genocide in 1915, pay
reparations and cede territory for an Armenian homeland,” ASALA killed
a total of 42 Turkish diplomats in different attacks within a decade.
“Pope Francis’ history-falsifying statements are null and void for
Turkey and Turkish nation,” Bokzir added.
Pope said during Sunday’s Mass: “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
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.
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.”
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.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress