Turkish Foreign Ministry: “Russia is best-suited to know what exactly “genocide” and its legal dimension are”
'We reject and condemn the labeling of the 1915 events as 'genocide' by the President of the Russian Federation,' says Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Anadolu Agency informs citing the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs' statement, Censor.NET reports.
Turkey has condemned Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin's use of the word "genocide" to qualify the 1915 events.
Putin used the word "genocide" to qualify what happened to Armenians during the First World War in a statement released on the Kremlin's website Thursday.
"April 24, 1915, is a mournful date, related to one of the most horrendous and dramatic events in human history, the genocide of the Armenian people," Putin said in a letter called "World Without Genocide."
"We reject and condemn the labeling of the 1915 events as 'genocide' by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, despite all our warnings and calls," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday. "Such political statements, which are flagrant violation of law, are null and void for Turkey."
"Taking into account the mass atrocities and exiles in the Caucasus, in Central Asia and in eastern Europe committed by Russia for a century, collective punishment methods (...) as well as inhumane practices especially against Turkish and Muslim people in Russia's own history, we consider that Russia is best-suited to know what exactly "genocide" and its legal dimension are," the Foreign Ministry stressed in the statement.
Putin was among the leaders, along with French President Francois Hollande, who were in Armenia's capital, Yerevan, to participate in the events marking the 100th anniversary of the 1915 events.
"(Russia's) insistence on wrongdoing will not help peace, prosperity and welfare in our region. The only thing that Russia can do in this issue is to leave its biased attitude aside and encourage Armenia and the Armenians to respond positively to the calls of Turkey for peace and friendship," the Foreign Ministry's statement reads.
