Joy in Armenia, fury in Turkey as US House recognizes 'genocide'

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, 30 October 2019

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was honored to join her colleagues
"in solemn remembrance of one of the great atrocities of the 20th century"

Armenia rejoiced but Turkey was furious on Wednesday after the US House of Representatives passed a historic resolution recognizing mass killings of Armenians a century ago as genocide.

With tensions already high over Turkey's assault on Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria, US lawmakers voted 405 to 11 on Tuesday in support of the measure to "commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance."

The move was a first for the US Congress, where similar measures with such direct language have been introduced for decades but never passed.

The resolution says the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 amounted to genocide, a claim recognized by some 30 countries.

Turkey strongly denies the accusation of genocide and says that both Armenians and Turks died as a result of World War I. It puts the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.

Ankara was swift to condemn the measure, summoning the American ambassador and calling the vote a "meaningless political step".

"This step which was taken is worthless and we do not recognize it," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech.

"A country whose history is full of the stain of genocide and slavery neither has the right to say anything nor to lecture Turkey," he said.

Ties between Washington and NATO member Turkey have been strained by Ankara's offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, which came after US forces withdrew from the area.

'Historical justice'

The House also passed a measure on Tuesday imposing sanctions on senior Turkish officials involved in the Syria offensive.

The international recognition of the killings as genocide has long been the top priority of Armenia's foreign policy, supported by vigorous campaigning by Armenian diasporas around the world.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hailed the House move, tweeting that it was a "bold step towards serving truth and historical #justice that also offers comfort to millions of descendants of the Armenian Genocide survivors."

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hailed a US House of Representatives 

resolution officially recognizing the "Armenian genocide"

The Armenian foreign ministry said the resolution was of "profound significance" and thanked US lawmakers for "their overwhelming commitment to truth, justice, humanity and solidarity, and to universal values of human rights."

The sentiment was shared by Armenians on the streets of the capital Yerevan.

"I am so happy that the US has finally recognised the Armenian genocide," said 69-year-old cobbler Koryun Hakobyan.

"Other countries will now follow suit."

The hilltop genocide memorial that dominates Yerevan's skyline draws hundreds of thousands on April 24 each year to mark the anniversary of the start of the tragedy.

In April 2015, on the centenary of the killings, the Armenian Church conferred sainthood on victims of the massacres.

Kim Kardashian, the US reality star who is a prominent member of the Armenian diaspora and visited Yerevan for the 2015 anniversary, hailed the Washington vote on social media.

'Anti-Turkey groups'

"WOW LOOK AT THESE INCREDIBLE NUMBERS!!! THE U.S. JUST RECOGNIZED THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE!!!!" she wrote in a Tweet to her 62 million followers.

Turkey's foreign ministry suggested the House measure was the result of domestic politics in the United States, where people of Armenian origin number between 500,000 and 1.5 million.

"Its sole addressees are the Armenian lobby and anti-Turkey groups," the ministry said.

In 2017, newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump criticized the killings as "one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century," but in keeping with longstanding US practice he stopped short of using the word genocide.

Before being elected in 2008, Trump's predecessor Barack Obama had pledged to recognize the killings as genocide, but ultimately did not do so during his two terms in office.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that the truth of the "staggering crime" had been denied too often.

"Today, let us clearly state the facts on the floor of this House to be etched forever into the Congressional Record: The barbarism committed against the Armenian people was a genocide."

School bus hijack children to get Italian nationality

Yahoo – AFP, March 27, 2019

Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (R) meets with five children
who helped to save other children during the March 20, 2019 Milan bus attack, saying
they deserve Italian nationality (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Rome (AFP) - Foreign children on the school bus hijacked near Milan last week are to be awarded Italian nationality, far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday after a week-long debate.

The dramatic police rescue of 51 children on the bus hijacked by their driver of Senegalese origin on March 20 has gripped Italy and rekindled debate about its citizenship laws.

"If there are children who are not Italian citizens, we have studied this question and we will complete the process so that they can become Italian," Salvini said after meeting five of the children and some of the police who saved them in Rome.

Salvini from the anti-immigrant Lega party stressed that the nationality would be awarded "without any variation in the law, since the law exists and works, we do not change it."

Children of foreign parents who are born in Italy can only apply for citizenship when they reach 18.

It is not known how many of the children are concerned, but 14-year-old Ramy, born in Italy to Egyptian parents, and 13-year-old Moroccan Adam played key roles by calling police during the hijacking.

The driver doused the bus in petrol and said he would set it alight, taking what he thought was everyone's mobile phone and heading for Milan airport in what he said was a protest against Salvini's tough anti-migrant policies.

'Like my son'

As some Italians and Ramy suggested changes to the citizenship law, Salvini had earlier told the boy: "Get elected and then you can make the law."

Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (R) chats with Ramy, one 

of the five children who helped to save other children during the March 20, 2019 Milan

bus attack, whom Salvini says is "like my son" (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Salvini quickly said he would try to take away the Italian nationality of the arrested bus driver, which he acquired by marrying an Italian, thanks to a tough anti-immigrant decree which became law last year.

The previous centre-left government said it would change the law to make it easier to grant citizenship to foreigners born in Italy but the law was never passed.

Salvini insisted that he himself had decided to give the children nationality, after his coalition partner from the Five Star Movement Luigi Di Maio said he had changed Salvini's mind.

Salvini slammed what he called "the political manipulation of these children" before saying that Ramy was "like my son" and that he had "shown he has understood the values of this country".

He also paid homage to a 13-year-old Italian boy who offered himself as a hostage while his friends were "in panic, crying and praying."

"He is a young Italian so I can't even give him double-Italian nationality," Salvini said.

"As a father myself, I said to him, 'Are you crazy?' And he told me: 'It was the right thing to do'. At 13... Hats off."

According to the most recent data, Italy naturalised 146,000 foreigners in 2017, more than any other European Union country, including 54,000 minors who became adults.

Nationality is a sensitive issue in Italy which is undergoing a birthrate crisis.

Legally resident foreigners represent 8.5 percent of the population, rising to 9.7 percent of children under 10, 13 percent under five and 14.5 percent of children born last year.

Related Article:

Armenian family at centre of 96-day church service can stay in the Netherlands

Armenia celebrates as veteran leader quits amid protests

Yahoo – AFP, Mariam Harutyunyan, April 23, 2018

People celebrated Armenian prime minister Serzh Sarkisian's resignation
in downtown Yerevan (AFP Photo/KAREN MINASYAN)

Last week Sarkisian was elected prime minister by lawmakers after serving a decade as president, triggering political turmoil in the Moscow-allied nation of 2.9 million people.

The opposition said the move was designed to extend his chokehold on power under a new parliamentary system of government. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital Yerevan in recent days.

The 63-year-old Sarkisian -- who earlier refused to step down -- stunned the country Monday by saying he was in the wrong and resigning.

His announcement came shortly after the release of protest leader Pashinyan who had been detained by police on Sunday.

"I am leaving the post of the country's leader," pro-Moscow Sarkisian was quoted as saying in a statement by his office.

"Nikol Pashinyan was right. I was wrong."

Sarkisian implied that there were several ways to resolve the crisis and that he could have used force to break up protests but chose not do to it.

"This is not in my nature," he added.

Sarkisian quit after a number of serving and former soldiers joined the protests.

Spontaneous street parties broke out and many flocked to stores to buy wine to

toast to the country's future (AFP Photo/KAREN MINASYAN)

'People won'

Armenians cheered the resignation, dancing, hugging each other and setting off fireworks.

"The people won!" shouted supporters of Pashinyan as some people waved national flags and others tooted car horns, on the 11th day of demonstrations.

Spontaneous street parties broke out as tens of thousands took to the streets. Many flocked to stores to buy wine and raise a toast to the country's future.

"You have won, the proud citizens of Armenia!" Pashinyan, the 42-year-old leader of the Civil Contract Party, wrote on Facebook.

"And no one will be able to take this victory away from you. I congratulate you, the victorious people."

First Vice Premier Karen Karapetyan has been appointed acting head of government.

Sarkisian remained the country's top leader even after he transitioned to the post of prime minister following constitutional amendments approved in 2015, which transferred powers from the presidency to the premiership.

Sarkisian, a shrewd former military officer, was first elected president of the impoverished, Moscow-allied country in 2008.

He also held the office of prime minister from 2007 to 2008.

Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian (left) stormed out of a tense televised debate

with opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday (AFP Photo/Vano SHLAMOV)

After the 2008 presidential vote, 10 people died in clashes between police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate.

The Kremlin said it was closely watching the political crisis in Armenia -- which hosts a Russian military base -- but would not interfere.

'New life'

Sarkisian's peaceful departure after a decade in power has been hailed as unprecedented.

"For the first time ever the people forced the head of state to resign," said 46-year-old Arman Sarkisian (no relation to Serzh Sarkisian).

"This has never happened before. From now on those who will replace him will think twice before taking decisions."

Gohar Badalyan, a 21-year-old student, added: "A new life is beginning today."

Sarkisian had earlier refused to go and on Sunday stormed out of televised talks with Pashinyan, accusing him of "blackmail".

Over the past days, thousands of opposition supporters held rallies against Sarkisian, denouncing his failure to fight poverty, corruption and the influence of oligarchs.

They blocked roads and marched arm-in-arm holding Armenian flags, with students and a group of serving soldiers joining the protests.

A number of uniformed former soldiers and veterans who fought in Nagorny Karabakh -- a breakaway region seized by Armenian separatists after the collapse of the Soviet Union -- also joined the demonstrations.

Despite the festive mood, many in Armenia acknowledged on Monday that the country still faced huge uncertainty.

Armenians hailed Sarkisian's peaceful departure after a decade in power as 

unprecedented in the country's history (AFP Photo/Vano SHLAMOV)

Andranik Serobyan, a teacher, said the "hardest part is ahead".

"Who will be the prime minister? Who will be the country's leader? We will have to live through all of this."

Kremlin 'observing'

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman -- who spoke to reporters before Sarkisian resigned -- said that Russia was carefully watching events in Armenia, which has retained close ties to its former Soviet master.

"We are very attentively observing what is happening in Armenia," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, calling the South Caucasus country "extremely important" for Russia.

Peskov dismissed a question on whether Russia would interfere in the crisis -- which he called "exclusively an internal affair" -- as "absolutely inappropriate."

Dutch parliament poised to formally recognise Armenian genocide: media

DutchNews, February 16, 2018

The Dutch parliament is poised to explicitly recognize the murder of 1.5 million Christian Armenian citizens by the Ottoman empire as genocide after a long campaign by ChristenUnie MP Joel Voordewind. 

There is also majority support in parliament to send a Dutch minister to the commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Jerevan in April, Dutch media said on Friday. 

Voordewind is expected to submit a motion on the issue to parliament next week, but is already guaranteed the support of a majority of MPs, now the coalition has thrown its weight behind the plan. 

Experts say that the decision will further anger Turkey, which already has a fraught relationship with the Netherlands. 

The Netherlands recently withdraw its ambassador to Turkey and the relationship between the two countries has been strained since the Dutch banned two Turkish ministers from campaigning on Dutch soil for a referendum to give greater powers to president Erdogan. 

‘We must not deny history for fear of sanctions. Our country is home to the capital of international law, so we must not be scared of doing what is right in this matter,’ Voordewind told Trouw. ‘We are acknowledging history. That is not the same thing as casting aspersions as Turkey has done towards the Netherlands.’ 

The Dutch government currently refers to the issue as ‘the question of Armenian genocide’ and will continue to do so, RTL said.

Putin tells Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders to 'ensure' end to Karabakh clashes

Yahoo – AFP, 5 April 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin (AFP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ensure a halt to deadly clashes over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region after a truce was agreed.

"Putin called on both sides to urgently ensure a complete cessation of military hostilities and respect for the ceasefire," the Kremlin said in a statement after Putin spoke to the two presidents separately by telephone.

Putin voiced "serious concern" after four days of fighting killed at least 64 people in the the worst outbreak of violence over the territory since since an inconclusive truce in 1994.

Putin also underlined the need to restart internationally moderated peace negotiations that have failed to definitively end the bitter feud over the past two decades.

Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists in Nagorny Karabakh on Tuesday said were ending their fighting after four days of bloodshed, as international powers scrambled to resolve the worst violence in decades over the disputed region.

Armenian and Azeri forces said they had agreed a ceasefire to halt the fighting from 0800 GMT.

The truce came after Azerbaijan's army claimed to have snatched control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, effectively changing the frontline for the first time since the 1994 truce.

Separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of mountainous Nagorny Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region lying inside Azerbaijan, in an early 1990s war after the Soviet Union crumbled that claimed some 30,000 lives.

The sides have never signed a peace deal despite the 1994 ceasefire and sporadic violence regularly claims lives of soldiers on both sides, though the latest outbreak represented a serious escalation.

While ex-Soviet master Moscow has sold arms to both sides and treads a careful line between the two, it has a military alliance with, and base in, Armenia and far closer ties to Yerevan.

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EU leaders meet with ex-Soviet partners in Riga

The European Union has gathered in Latvia to meet with eastern countries and bolster ties. Russia has warned that the meeting "mustn't hurt" its interests.

Deutsche Welle, 21 May 2015

European Union leaders met in the Latvian capital of Riga on Thursday for a summit of the bloc's Eastern Partnership program, eighteen months after the last meeting set off a fateful chain of events that led to the current turmoil in Ukraine.

The program seeks to bolster ties between the EU and six former Soviet nations: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Just before the two-day summit, the European Union promised grants amounting to 200 million euros ($223 million) to support small and medium sized businesses in some of these countries, including Ukraine, but as German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured above with Latvian President Andris Berzins) stressed ahead of the meeting, these talks "are not an instrument" of EU enlargement.

"We should therefore not raise any false expectations that we cannot fulfill later," Merkel told German lawmakers in Berlin before boarding her plane to Riga.

Russia takes center stage

Relations with Russia are likely to be a hot topic at the meeting, as the last summit in November of 2013 saw former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych withdraw his country's bid to sign an association agreement with the EU, opting instead for closer ties with Russia. The resulting protests in Kyiv ultimately caused Yanukovych's ouster which, along with Russia's annexation of Crimea, brought about the ongoing conflict in the east of Ukraine which has claimed over 6,000 lives.

The two-day summit will be
closely watched by the Kremlin

Speaking in Riga, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said his country was "ready to demonstrate a real fight against corruption and improve the investment climate."

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drew a line in the sand, saying that while it wasn't a "tragedy" that the six nations were seeking closer ties with Europe, the developments of the meeting "musn't hurt the interests of the Russian Federation."

But Donald Tusk, former prime minister of Poland and current European Council president, dismissed Russia's "bullying tactics" after arriving in Riga.

"The Eastern Partnership is not a beauty contest between Russia and the European Union. But let me be frank: beauty does count," Tusk said at the start of the summit. "If Russia was a bit softer, more charming, more attractive, perhaps it wouldn't have to compensate its shortcomings by destructive, aggressive and bullying tactics against its neighbours."

Tsipras to meet with Hollande and Merkel

Although Russia and its President Vladmir Putin will be important themes of discussion at the summit, the Greek debt crisis will also be on the agenda. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to meet with Merkel and French President Francois Hollande after dinner on Thursday, as an end of June deadline looms over a debt deal for Athens.

However, Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble downplayed hopes for reaching an agreement soon, telling news agency Reuters on Thursday that the Greek government's optimism may be unfounded and that one should not rule out a possible default.

es/msh (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Erdogan lashes out at West and Russia for recognizing Armenian killings as genocide

Turkish President Erdogan has slammed the world leaders for recognizing the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide. Erdogan said countries like Germany, France and Russia should first "clean their own stains."

Deutsche Welle, 25 April 2015

Recep Tayyip Erdogan hits out at European Union and the US for using the word genocide to describe the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago.

The Turkish president accused Germany, France and Russia of "supporting claims based on Armenian lies."

Erdogan also accused the United States of siding with Armenia, despite the fact that US President Barack Obama stopped short of calling the killings as "genocide" and instead used the Armenian term Medz Yeghern (great catastrophe) for the World War I killings.

"The latest countries to speak of genocide are Germany, Russia and France. What happened during the two world wars that had been initiated by Germany in the past century is before our eyes," President Erdogan was quoted by Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency as saying on Saturday.

Demonstrations are being held in
several countries to mark the 100
years of Armenian killings

"First, they (Germany, Russia and France) must, one by one, clean the stains on their own histories," he added.

The US is siding with "hatred," the president said, also slamming the European Union, which on April 15 voted to call the events genocide.

"Hey European Union! Don't offer us any thoughts. Keep them to yourself," Erdogan said.

During the centenary commemorations of the massacre on Friday in Armenia, French President Francois Holland said Turkey must recognize the killings as genocide, whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin also used the word which Ankara strongly objects to.

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenian people were murdered around the time of the First World War. Turkey says the victims of the event were merely casualties of war, arguing that the toll has been exaggerated.

Earlier this month, Pope Francis described the killings as "the first genocide ofthe 20th century," drawing the wrath of Turkey, which recalled its Vatican envoy in protest.

'Confronting history'

Earlier in the week, German President Joachim Gauck called Turkey's Ottoman Empire killings of Armenians "genocide" at a memorial service in Berlin.

The Turkish government's statement, issued late on Friday, claimed the German president didn't have "the right to attribute to the Turkish people a crime which they have not committed."

It also warned Germany that it had angered its large Turkish population, saying they "will not forget and forgive President Gauck's statements."

On Friday Germany's parliamentary speaker, Norbert Lammert, said that Germany's own history made it even more important for it to stand up on the subject.

"We Germans cannot lecture anyone about dealing with their past, but we can, through our own experiences, encourage others to confront their history - even when it hurts," he said.

Germany's parliament is expected to vote on a motion to officially declare the killings of Armenians as genocide before its summer break.

The draft resolution, published online earlier in the week, was careful to point out that Germany's role in the Holocaust during World War II was even worse than the Turks' attack on Armenia.

More than 20 parliaments globally now recognize the event as genocide.

Commemorations have taken place around the world to mark the centenary of the massacre.

shs/rc (dpa, AFP, AP, Reuters)

Turkey shares Armenians' pain over Ottoman-era killings: PM

Yahoo – AFP, 20 April 2015

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu delivers a speech on April 15, 2015
in Ankara (AFP Photo/Adem Altan)

Ankara (AFP) - Turkey shares the pain of Armenians whose parents or grandparents were killed under the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday.

"We once again respectfully remember and share the pain of grandchildren and children of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during deportation in 1915," Davutoglu said in a statement released by his office to mark the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

Armenians consider the mass killings a genocide, a term Turkey has consistently refused to recognise.

Davutoglu made clear once more in the statement that Turkey did not accept the word genocide to describe the killings.

"To reduce everything to a single word, to put responsibility through generalisations on the Turkish nation alone... is legally and morally problematic," he said.

The relatively conciliatory tone of the statement contrasts with the furious reaction from Ankara early this month when Pope Francis used the term genocide to describe the killings.

Davutoglu had on April 12 lashed out at Francis for what he described as "inappropriate" and "one-sided" comments on the issue.

The latest statement said the "Ottoman Armenians" would be remembered at a service to be held at the Armenian patriarchate in Istanbul on April 24.

Davutoglu said Turks and Armenians should "heal their wounds from that century and reestablish their human relations".

The statement builds on an expression of condolences issued by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while he was still prime minister in April 2014.

In that statement, Erdogan described the killings as "our shared pain" in what was the weightiest statement yet from a Turkish leader on the issue.

Armenia and Armenians in the diaspora say 1.5 million of their forefathers were killed by Ottoman forces in a targeted campaign ordered by the military leadership of the Ottoman empire to eradicate the Armenian people from Anatolia in what is now eastern Turkey.

Turkey says hundreds of thousands of Turks and Armenians lost their lives as Ottoman forces battled the Russian Empire for control of eastern Anatolia during World War I.

The controversy has long prevented the establishment of normal trade and diplomatic relations between Turkey and neighbouring Armenia.

Pope Francis and the head of Armenia’s Orthodox church, Karekin II, greet each other

during an Armenian-rite mass in St Peter’s Basilica. Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP

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"Unknown History" - Apr 11-12, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New

Pope calls WWI slaughter of Armenians 'genocide'

Yahoo – AFP, Ella Ide, 12 April 2015

Pope Francis (centre) leaves after a mass of First Vespers in St Peter 

Basilica at the Vatican on April 11, 2015 (AFP Photo/Andreas Solaro)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis uttered the word "genocide" on Sunday to describe the mass murder of Armenians 100 years ago in a move likely to anger Turkey.

"In the past century our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies," he said during a solemn mass in Saint Peter's Basilica to mark the centenary of the Ottoman killings of Armenians.

"The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century', struck your own Armenian people," he said, quoting a statement signed by Pope John Paul II and the Armenian patriarch in 2001.

Children visit the genocide memorial, 

which commemorates the 1915 mass

 killing of Armenians in the Ottoman

 Empire, in Yerevan on April 10, 2015

(AFP Photo/Karen Minasyan)

Many historians describe the slaughter as the 20th century's first genocide, but Turkey hotly denies the accusation.

While Francis did not use his own words to describe the murders as genocide, it was the first time the term was spoken aloud in connection with Armenia by a head of the Roman Catholic Church in Saint Peter's Basilica.

"It was a very courageous act to repeat clearly that it was a genocide," Vatican expert Marco Tosatti told AFP.

"By quoting John Paul II he strengthened the Church's position, making it clear where it stands on the issue," he added.

'Immense and senseless slaughter'

The Argentine pope described the "immense and senseless slaughter" and spoke of the duty to "honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester."

The 78-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church had been under pressure to use the term "genocide" publicly to describe the slaughter, despite the risk of alienating an important ally in the fight against radical Islam.

Before becoming pope, Jorge Bergoglio used the word several times in events marking the mass murders, calling on Turkey to recognise the killings as such, according to religious news agency I.Media.

As pope, Francis is said to have used it once during a private audience in 2013 -- but even that sparked an outraged reaction from Turkey.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, and have long sought to win international recognition of the massacres as genocide.

But Turkey rejects the claims, arguing that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

More than 20 nations, including France and Russia, recognise the killings as genocide.

Vatican expert John Allen said ahead of the mass that the "truly bold" thing for Francis to do was "show restraint" -- something the pope may feel he has achieved by uttering the word "genocide" but only while quoting his Polish predecessor.

When Francis visited Turkey in November, President Recep Erdogan offered the pontiff a pact under which he would defend Christians in the Middle East in exchange for the Church tackling Islamophobia in the West, Allen said -- describing it as "a potential game-changer."

There was no immediate reaction from Turkey to the pope's words.

'Shedding of innocent blood'

In 2014, Erdogan, then premier, offered condolences for the mass killings for the first time, but the country still blames unrest and famine for many of the deaths.

In 2014, Turkey's President Recep 

Tayyip Erdogan, then premier, offered 

condolences for the mass killings for

 the first time, but the country still 

blames unrest and famine for many

 of the deaths (AFP Photo/Jure Makovec)

Francis said the other two genocides of the 20th century were "perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism", before pointing to more recent mass killings in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.

"It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent blood," he said.

The pope pointed to Armenia's particular importance as "the first Christian nation", being the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion in 301 AD.

Those murdered a century ago were mainly Christian and although the killings were not openly driven by religious motives, the pontiff drew comparisons with modern Christian refugees fleeing Islamic militants.

He referred once again to the modern day as "a time of war, a third world war which is being fought piecemeal", and evoked the "muffled and forgotten cry" of those "decapitated, crucified, burned alive, or forced to leave their homeland."

"Today too we are experiencing a sort of genocide created by general and collective indifference," he said.

Pope Francis and the head of Armenia’s Orthodox church, Karekin II, greet each other

during an Armenian-rite mass in St Peter’s Basilica. Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP

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Pope boosts Armenia's efforts to have Ottoman killings recognised as genocide

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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu lashes out at Pope Francis for

 "inappropriate" and "one-sided" comments after he used the word "genocide" 

to describe the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World

War I (AFP Photo/Adem Altan)