Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey, however, has insisted that the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest, not genocide. It has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries, including the Holy See, from officially recognizing the Armenian massacre as genocide.
Turkey’s embassy to the Holy See canceled a planned news conference for Sunday, presumably after learning that the pope would utter the word “genocide” over its objections. Instead, the Foreign Ministry in Ankara summoned the Vatican’s envoy, and then announced it was recalling its own ambassador to the Vatican for consultations.
In a statement, it said the Turkish people would not recognize the pope’s statement “which is controversial in every aspect, which is based on prejudice, which distorts history and reduces the pains suffered in Anatolia under the conditions of the First World War to members of just one religion.”
Francis’ words had a more positive effect in St. Peters, where the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Aram I thanked Francis for his clear condemnation and recalled that “genocide” is a crime against humanity that requires reparation.
“International law spells out clearly that condemnation, recognition and reparation of a genocide are closely interconnected,” Aram said in English at the end of the Mass to applause from the pews, where many wept.
In an interview with the AP after the Mass, the Armenian president, Sarkisian, praised Francis for “calling things by their names.”
He acknowledged the reparation issue, but said “for our people, the primary issue is universal recognition of the Armenian genocide, including recognition by Turkey.”
He dismissed Turkish calls for joint research into what transpired, saying researchers and commissions have already come to the conclusion and there is “no doubt at all that what happened was a genocide.”
via NorthEast Calling http://necalling.com/turkey-recalls-ambassador-over-popes-armenia-genocide-words-32064
No comments:
Post a Comment