Turkey calls joint 'genocide' remarks by Armenian and Greek leaders 'pathetic'

Armenian and Greek leaders' joint portrayal of the events that took place in Anatolia during World War I as "genocide" has deeply angered Ankara, which labeled their statement as "the product of a pathetic mentality."

Titled "Regarding the Statements of the Greek Prime Minister Mr. Alexis Tsipras, and President Mr. Prokopis Pavlopoulos on the Occasion of the Visit of the President of Armenia Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, Referring to Historical Events During the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and Containing Grave Allegations Against Turkey and the Turkish Identity," the Turkish Foreign Ministry's reaction came in the form of an official answer to a journalist's question by Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç late on March 17.

"The statements in question are the product of a pathetic mentality proving that the relations and solidarity between Greece and Armenia are built upon a joint hostility and slander language directed against the Turkish identity," Bilgiç said.

"Turkey and the Turkish people will never give credit to those bringing to the fore at every opportunity a dictum of history which is unlawful, disconnected with realities, one-sided and obsessive," he concluded.

Greece says thousands of ethnic Greeks who had been living on the southern shores of the Black Sea for centuries were massacred in Turkey during strife that accompanied the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Turkish state.

Armenia charges that as many as 1.5 million of its kin were victims of genocide during World War I under the Ottoman Empire.

Ankara rejects the "genocide" charge, countering that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided...