The Turkish prime minister has said his country will “share the pain” of the Armenian people, who claim they suffered genocide at the hands of the then Ottoman Empire, and will hold a memorial to mark the occasion for the first time in the country.
However, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reiterated Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the mass killings 100 years ago as genocide.
"We once again respectfully remember and share the pain of grandchildren and children of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during deportation in 1915," said Mr Davutoglu.
However he added that “to reduce everything to a single word, to put responsibility through generalisations on the Turkish nation alone... is legally and morally problematic."
The prime minister’s comments come as Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with US Secretary of State John Kerry, in a reported effort to discourage US President Barack Obama from using the word “genocide” in his annual address to mark the occasion.
During his 2008 election campaign, President Obama speaking on the Armenian
genocide said,
However, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reiterated Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the mass killings 100 years ago as genocide.
"We once again respectfully remember and share the pain of grandchildren and children of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during deportation in 1915," said Mr Davutoglu.
However he added that “to reduce everything to a single word, to put responsibility through generalisations on the Turkish nation alone... is legally and morally problematic."
The prime minister’s comments come as Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with US Secretary of State John Kerry, in a reported effort to discourage US President Barack Obama from using the word “genocide” in his annual address to mark the occasion.
During his 2008 election campaign, President Obama speaking on the Armenian
genocide said,
“My firmly held conviction is that the Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence. The facts are undeniable. As President I will recognise the
Armenian genocide.”