Pope Francis places flowers during his visit to Tzitzernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan, Armenia, on Saturday.
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At the presidential palace later, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan praised Pope Francis for having used the word “genocide” a year ago.
Neither, for that matter, did the reaction of Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli on Saturday to the pope’s use of the word “genocide” the day before, describing it as “unfortunate” and reflective of a “crusader’s mindset”.
“Sadly that tragedy, that genocide, was the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century, made possible by twisted racial, ideological or religious aims that darkened the minds of the tormentors even to the point of planning the annihilation of entire peoples”, Francis said on Friday afternoon.
Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One but disputes the 1.5 million casualty figure put out by Armenia.
Thanking God for all that had been rebuilt since the 1988 quake, the pope also asked the region’s people to consider what they are called to build today and, more importantly, how they are called to build it.
YEREVAN, June 25 (Reuters) – Pope Francis urged Armenia and Turkey on Saturday to seek reconciliation and to shun “the illusory power of vengeance” a century after 1.5 million Armenians were massacred in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.
“I pray here, with pain in my heart, that such tragedies will not happen again, that humanity does not forget and knows how to overcome evil with good”, Francis wrote in large golden book of commemoration.
Pope Francis, center, and Catholicos Karekin II arrive to visit the Apostolic Cathedral of Etchmiadzin, Yerevan, Armenia, Friday, June 24, 2016.
President Sargsyan, Karekin and a few other officials greeted Francis at the Yerevan airport in a low-key welcome ceremony. “A blessing has come down on the land of Mount Ararat”, said Andzhela Adzhemyan, referring to the mountain that exists across Ankara’s border with Turkey and is believed to be where Noah’s ark came to rest after the flood.
The two nations have rival claims to Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azeri territory where violence broke out in April, killing at least 120 people.
“The goal is to squeeze into Turkey in the corner”, said Canikli, accusing Francis of siding with European Union values. The area has always been a cradle of Christianity, and Pope Francis used the occasion to pay homage to the strength of faith in hard times. Memory can not be stifled or forgotten!
The pope’s comments drew a standing ovation from Armenia’s president, she added. “It is essential that those responsible for the future of the nations undertake courageously and without delay initiatives aimed at ending these sufferings, making their primary goal the quest for peace, the defense and acceptance of victims of aggression and persecution, the promotion of justice and sustainable development”.
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In a world “marked by divisions and conflicts, as well as by grave forms of material and spiritual poverty”, he said, people expect Christians to provide a witness and example of mutual esteem and close collaboration.
