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Erdogan offers condolences over mass WWI killings of Armenians

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  • Erdogan offers condolences over mass WWI killings of Armenians

    Al-Arabiya, UAE
    April 24 2014

    Erdogan offers condolences over mass WWI killings of Armenians

    Wednesday, 23 April 2014


    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday offered
    condolences to the descendants of the victims of the mass killing of
    Armenians by Ottoman troops during World War I.

    Erdogan's statement, on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the start
    of mass deportations of Armenians in 1915, was the first such overt
    comment by a Turkish leader over the killings, considered by many as
    the first genocide of the 20th century.

    "The incidents of the First World War are our shared pain," said
    Erdogan in a statement.

    "It is our hope and belief that the peoples of an ancient and unique
    geography, who share similar customs and manners will be able to talk
    to each other about the past with maturity and to remember together
    their losses in a decent manner.

    "And it is with this hope and belief that we wish that the Armenians
    who lost their lives in the context of the early 20th century rest in
    peace, and we convey our condolences to their grandchildren," he
    added.

    Armenia has been trying to get Turkey to recognize the killings of up
    to 1.5 million people under the Ottoman empire as genocide.

    But Turkey says 500,000 died of fighting and starvation during World
    War I and categorically rejects the term genocide.

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