ROME -- There was not long to wait for Turkey’s reaction to Pope Francis’ surprising use of the word genocide during his visit to Armenia, and talking of the massacre of around 1.5 million of the ethnic minority by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20^th century.

 On his papal jet flying back from Armenia, which lies within the present-day Republic of Turkey, the pontiff said, “I hope that the Armenian population find justice and peace, because they are a brave population.”  He talked of the moment when, “The Armenian president, during his welcoming speech, spoke of Turkey: he had the courage to say that we will agree to forgive this and to look forwards.”

 Of his unforeseen use of ‘genocide’ after it had not been written into his speech, the Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said that the Pope and the Catholic Church “still bore traces of the mentality of the Crusades.”  He was also keen to emphasise that this definition bore “no resemblance” to the truth: “First and foremost, it’s a shame that the pope made such observations…His comments are not impartial, they don’t have any relation to reality.”

 For Cankili, the truth “on this so-called genocide is known by everyone, even by Armenians themselves.”  Turkey claims the number of Armenians who died in 1915 only totalled fewer than 200,000, and that these deaths were a cause of war and the cold, which was particularly intense in that time period.

 When the pope was asked why he used the word ‘genocide’ in his rhetoric he replied that, “In Argentina when we were talking of the Armenian extermination, the word genocide was always used, I didn’t know any other definition.  To me it sounds strange not to use it.  Only on my arrival in Rome did I learn the terms ‘Great Evil’ or ‘Metz Yeghern’.”

 He continued, “It was explained to me that genocide is a technical term and is not a synonym for extermination, because from a legal point of view it implied an action of restoration.  John Paul II also used it.”  His next question was on his accusation towards international powers, to which he responded, “I have always spoken of the three genocides of the last century; the Armenian, that which was carried out by Hitler, and that by Stalin.”

 “In Armenia I said that whilst the Armenian genocide was happening, exactly as with the other two, the great international powers turned their eyes away.  Some powers had photos of the trains taking people to Auschwitz; they had the possibility to bomb and they didn’t do it.  In the context of the First World War there was the problem of the Armenians, in the context of the second there was the problem of Hitler. Not to mention what happened after Yalta.  In the end, why did nobody speak of it?”

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