Turkey will summon the Vatican
ambassador to Ankara to express its "malaise" over Pope Francis'
recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide at the hands of the
Ottoman Empire during an apostolic visit to Armenia that ended
yesterday, Turkish daily Hurriyet cited "reliable Turkish
diplomatic sources" as saying Monday.
Turkey refuses to use the term, claiming the 1.5-million
death toll is inflated and that many died on both sides as the
Ottoman Empire crumbled during World War I.
Pope Francis mourned the
genocide of Armenians by Ottoman-era Turks last Friday on the
first of his three-day apostolic visit to the "first Christian
country" on the 14th international trip of his pontificate.
Addressing Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, religious
leaders, diplomats and members of civil society, the pontiff
said the 1915 slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians was "a tragedy, a genocide".
The deaths marked the beginning of a long list of "dreadful
catastrophes... made possible by aberrant racist, ideological or
religious motives, that clouded the minds of the tormentors to
the point where they... annihilated entire peoples," the pontiff
said.
Last year, the pope said the slaughter was "considered the
first genocide of the 20th century" at a Mass marking its 100th
anniversary at St Peter's Basilica.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA