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Turkey accuses Pope of 'prejudice' over Armenian 'genocide'
Daniel Dombey in Istanbul and James Politi in Rome
12/4/15
Turkey reacted angrily after Pope Francis called the Ottoman-era
slaughter of Armenians "the first genocide of the 20th century", with
Ankara accusing the pontiff of distorting history and speaking out of
prejudice.
The Turkish government said it was recalling its ambassador to the
Vatican after it earlier summoned the papal envoy to complain. It said
the Pope's statement about the killings -- the centenary of which comes
this month -- was "based on prejudice, distorts history and reduces
sufferings in Anatolia during the first world war to members of just
one religion".
"Religious offices are not places through which hatred and animosity
are fuelled by unfounded allegations," Mevlut Cavusolgu, Turkey's
foreign minister, said on Twitter. "The Pope's statement, which is out
of touch with both historical facts and legal basis, is simply
unacceptable."
At a Sunday mass in the Vatican attended by Serzh Sargsyan, the
Armenian president, the Pope depicted the killings as the precursor of
attempts to wipe out whole ethnic groups by the Nazis and the Soviets,
as well as massacres in countries such as Rwanda and Bosnia.
"Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding
without bandaging it," he said. Turkey has yet to make any official
response to his statement. Although both the Pope and his predecessor
John Paul II had used the word "genocide" before to describe the
killing of up 1.5m Armenians during the last years of the Ottoman
Empire, they di not do it in as official public speech. This made the
remarks all the more surprising to officials, particularly since the
Pope paid an apparently friendly trip to Turkey last year.
Pope Francis's remarks come as the 78-year old Argentine pontiff has
become worried -- and vocal -- about the persecution of Christians,
particularly by Muslims. This month, jihadi militants attacked a
university in Kenya, focusing on Christians and killing 148 people.
Christians have routinely been the object of violence by members of
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis). "So many of our
defenceless brothers and sisters...on account of their faith in Christ
or their ethnic origin, are publicly and ruthlessly put to death --
decapitated, crucified, burnt alive -- or forced to leave their
homeland," the Pope said.
Ankara says it is not yet established that the deaths amounted to
genocide -- even though Raphael Lemkin, the scholar who coined the
word, referred explicitly to the killings as genocide.
The issue is set to attract more debate in the run-up to April 24, the
official day of commemoration of the killings, when presidents
François Hollande of France and Vladimir Putin of Russia are expected
to travel to Yerevan, the Armenian capital. Turkey has chosen the same
date to mark the centenary of the first world war Gallipoli battles
and figures including Britain's princes Charles and Harry are due to
attend.
When Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited Mr Sargsyan to
attend the Gallipoli events, the Armenian president labelled it a
"cynical attempt" to distract attention from the April 24
commemoration.
Although Turkey's stance on the killings has previously strained
relations with countries such as the US and France, Turkish officials
are hopeful that they can avoid similar rifts in the year of the
centenary.
After a recent trip to Washington to discuss the issue, a group of
ruling party MPs returned to Turkey confident that the Republican
congressional leadership was less likely than its Democratic
predecessors to allow resolutions marking the killings as genocide to
proceed.
In Turkey itself, Mr Erdogan went further than any previous leader
when last year he recognised the "particular significance" of April 24
"for our Armenian citizens and for all Armenians around the world".
Until recently, references to an Armenian genocide risked prosecution
in Turkey, but Mr Erdogan has argued that "expressing different
opinions and thoughts freely on the events of 1915" was a requirement
of a modern pluralist democracy.
Books with the word genocide in the title have now been published in
Turkey -- something that was previously unthinkable. Ethnic Armenian
Turks are running for both the ruling AK party and the main opposition
parties in June general elections, while another serves as chief
adviser to Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's prime minister.
Pope Francis has in the past praised the shift towards conciliatory
language by Mr Erdogan but his comments on Sunday suggest concern
inside the Vatican that the Turkish position may be hardening again.
The Pope met Armenia's Catholic bishops last week, but avoided using
the term genocide in describing the 1915 slaughter -- rather calling it
"martyrdom and persecution". He also asked for "concrete gestures of
reconciliation" between the two countries.
Yet, Ankara's position remains that a joint historical commission
should be set up to study the events of 1915 -- a commission Armenia
argues is wholly unnecessary given the documentation that already
exists. Efforts to establish normal diplomatic relations between
Turkey and Armenia also ran out of steam several years ago.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d1876b7c-e10b-11e4-8b1a-00144feab7de.html#axzz3X8HNtAmy
Daniel Dombey in Istanbul and James Politi in Rome
12/4/15
Turkey reacted angrily after Pope Francis called the Ottoman-era
slaughter of Armenians "the first genocide of the 20th century", with
Ankara accusing the pontiff of distorting history and speaking out of
prejudice.
The Turkish government said it was recalling its ambassador to the
Vatican after it earlier summoned the papal envoy to complain. It said
the Pope's statement about the killings -- the centenary of which comes
this month -- was "based on prejudice, distorts history and reduces
sufferings in Anatolia during the first world war to members of just
one religion".
"Religious offices are not places through which hatred and animosity
are fuelled by unfounded allegations," Mevlut Cavusolgu, Turkey's
foreign minister, said on Twitter. "The Pope's statement, which is out
of touch with both historical facts and legal basis, is simply
unacceptable."
At a Sunday mass in the Vatican attended by Serzh Sargsyan, the
Armenian president, the Pope depicted the killings as the precursor of
attempts to wipe out whole ethnic groups by the Nazis and the Soviets,
as well as massacres in countries such as Rwanda and Bosnia.
"Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding
without bandaging it," he said. Turkey has yet to make any official
response to his statement. Although both the Pope and his predecessor
John Paul II had used the word "genocide" before to describe the
killing of up 1.5m Armenians during the last years of the Ottoman
Empire, they di not do it in as official public speech. This made the
remarks all the more surprising to officials, particularly since the
Pope paid an apparently friendly trip to Turkey last year.
Pope Francis's remarks come as the 78-year old Argentine pontiff has
become worried -- and vocal -- about the persecution of Christians,
particularly by Muslims. This month, jihadi militants attacked a
university in Kenya, focusing on Christians and killing 148 people.
Christians have routinely been the object of violence by members of
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis). "So many of our
defenceless brothers and sisters...on account of their faith in Christ
or their ethnic origin, are publicly and ruthlessly put to death --
decapitated, crucified, burnt alive -- or forced to leave their
homeland," the Pope said.
Ankara says it is not yet established that the deaths amounted to
genocide -- even though Raphael Lemkin, the scholar who coined the
word, referred explicitly to the killings as genocide.
The issue is set to attract more debate in the run-up to April 24, the
official day of commemoration of the killings, when presidents
François Hollande of France and Vladimir Putin of Russia are expected
to travel to Yerevan, the Armenian capital. Turkey has chosen the same
date to mark the centenary of the first world war Gallipoli battles
and figures including Britain's princes Charles and Harry are due to
attend.
When Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited Mr Sargsyan to
attend the Gallipoli events, the Armenian president labelled it a
"cynical attempt" to distract attention from the April 24
commemoration.
Although Turkey's stance on the killings has previously strained
relations with countries such as the US and France, Turkish officials
are hopeful that they can avoid similar rifts in the year of the
centenary.
After a recent trip to Washington to discuss the issue, a group of
ruling party MPs returned to Turkey confident that the Republican
congressional leadership was less likely than its Democratic
predecessors to allow resolutions marking the killings as genocide to
proceed.
In Turkey itself, Mr Erdogan went further than any previous leader
when last year he recognised the "particular significance" of April 24
"for our Armenian citizens and for all Armenians around the world".
Until recently, references to an Armenian genocide risked prosecution
in Turkey, but Mr Erdogan has argued that "expressing different
opinions and thoughts freely on the events of 1915" was a requirement
of a modern pluralist democracy.
Books with the word genocide in the title have now been published in
Turkey -- something that was previously unthinkable. Ethnic Armenian
Turks are running for both the ruling AK party and the main opposition
parties in June general elections, while another serves as chief
adviser to Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's prime minister.
Pope Francis has in the past praised the shift towards conciliatory
language by Mr Erdogan but his comments on Sunday suggest concern
inside the Vatican that the Turkish position may be hardening again.
The Pope met Armenia's Catholic bishops last week, but avoided using
the term genocide in describing the 1915 slaughter -- rather calling it
"martyrdom and persecution". He also asked for "concrete gestures of
reconciliation" between the two countries.
Yet, Ankara's position remains that a joint historical commission
should be set up to study the events of 1915 -- a commission Armenia
argues is wholly unnecessary given the documentation that already
exists. Efforts to establish normal diplomatic relations between
Turkey and Armenia also ran out of steam several years ago.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d1876b7c-e10b-11e4-8b1a-00144feab7de.html#axzz3X8HNtAmy