Pope Calls Armenian Slaughter ‘First Genocide Of 20Th Century’

[Purveyor]

Pope Francis on Sunday remembered the centenary of the slaughter of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire by calling it “the first genocide of the 20th century,” a politically explosive pronouncement that will certainly anger Turkey.

Latest update : 2015-04-12

Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in Argentina, defended his pronouncement by saying it was his duty to honor the memory of the innocent men, women, children, priests and bishops who were “senselessly” murdered.

“Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it,” he said at the start of a Mass Sunday in the Armenian Catholic rite in St. Peter’s Basilica honoring the centenary.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey however denies that the death constituted genocide, saying that the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

Turkey’s embassy to the Holy See canceled a planned press conference for Sunday, presumably after learning that the pope would utter the word “genocide” over its objections.

more...

http://www.france24.com/en/20150412-pope-armenian-genocide-mass-turkey-2015/

[LeftInTX]

1. This pic sums up my grandmother's-great grandmother's experience

[Journeyman]

2. Easy it is to forget or pass over King Leopold II and the Congo Free State (1885-1908) . . .

where the genocide was probably six times larger (~10 million). Kind of a half and half thing, I guess, part 19th, part 20th century, so there is that.

Too many any way we view it. Too many indeed. I'm glad someone is recognizing what the Turks did, however. No way to hold the perpetrators to account, but there should be at least an accounting.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Remember

the "country" (in quotes) of "Africa" was the "dark continent" (in quotes) and the Congo massacre occurred within the "negroid belt", so the people there were not considered "humans". Thus whatever happened there was their own fault and their history is "irrelevant".



(from 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica)

One day, real world history will be tackled without the Eurocentric overlay.

[LuvNewcastle]

3. I hope this century is a lot better

than the last one. The 20th century was an ugly, evil time.