Pope Francis yesterday sparked anger in Turkey when he called the first World War massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, “the first genocide of the 20th century”.

Turkey responded by summoning the Papal Nuncio in Ankara, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, to express its “deep sorrow and disappointment” about the pope’s remarks.

The comments were made during a commemorative Mass in the Basilica of St Peter’s, held to recall the centenary of the “Metz Yeghern” (the Great Evil), as the massacres or “mass deportations” are called by Armenians.

Among those attending were many Armenian faithful as well as Armenian Orthodox and Catholic Patriarchs and the Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan.

Stating that “our time” is “a time of war”, the pontiff not only called the Armenian massacres one of “three massive and unprecedented tragedies” of the last century but compared them to much more recent mass killings, saying:

“The first genocide . . . struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks . . .

“The remaining two were perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism. And more recently there have been other mass killings, like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia. It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent blood. It seems that the enthusiasm generated at the end of the second World War has dissipated and is now disappearing”.

‘Senseless slaughter’

Diplomatic sources in Ankara said the statement contradicted the message of peace and friendship the pontiff delivered during his three-day visit to Ankara and Istanbul last November.

The interpretation of the Metz Yeghern or mass deportations has long prompted bitter differences. Armenian and other historians have argued that 1.5 million Armenian Christians, Catholic and Orthodox, were slaughtered during the first World War as the Ottoman government embarked on a systematic extermination of its minority Armenian population.

Not only were able-bodied Armenian males killed but women, children and the infirm were also driven into the Syrian desert on death marches, historians claims.

Turkey, the modern day successor state to the Ottoman Empire, has always rejected the term “genocide” in relation to the Armenians, arguing that the death toll during “mass deportations” has been inflated. It claims the majority of those killed in 1915 and 1916 were victims of civil strife and general unrest during the first World War.

Yesterday was not the first time a pope has used the word “genocide” in relation to the Armenian massacres. In September 2000, John Paul II issued a common declaration with Orthodox Armenian Patriarch Karekin II which referred to the “extermination of a million and a half Christians”, calling it “the first genocide of the 20th century”. That statement, too, prompted serious Vatican-Turkey tensions.

Patriarch Karekin II, who attended yesterday’s Mass, said in a message that “the universal recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide . . . will benefit the creation of a safe and just world”. He said the 100th anniversary of the genocide was an invitation to the world “to stop and prevent crimes against humanity”.

Meanwhile, last Saturday Pope Francis formally confirmed next year’s Holy Year with a Papal Bull of Indiction. Due to run from December 8th, 2015 to November 20th, 2016, the Holy Year of Mercy should “reawaken our conscience, when faced with the drama of poverty”, he said.