At the beginning of the Mass, dedicated to the centennial of the so-called Armenian genocide, Pope Francis said on April 12 that in the XX century, mankind experienced three “big unprecedented tragedies” - the so-called Armenian genocide, Nazism and Stalinism. The Pontiff described the tortures endured at the beginning of the last century by Armenians, Syrian Catholics and Orthodox, Assyrians and Greeks, as “the first genocide of the twentieth century.”
Turkey later said that the statement doesn’t mean anything for the country, and that Vatican unilaterally evaluates the events of 1915, turning a blind eye to the fact that these events led to death of both a part of the Muslim population of Turkey and representatives of other religious minorities.
Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey`s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire allegedly carried out ”genocide” against the Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915. Turkey in turn has always denied "the genocide" took place. While strengthening the efforts to promote the "genocide" in the world, Armenians have achieved its recognition by the parliaments of some countries.
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