'Pope made distinction between Christians and Muslims'

Turkey's foreign ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said the Pope, who is a religious leader and gives messages for humanity and equality, made a distinction between Christians and Muslims while describing the Christians' suffering as “genocide" and ignoring the Muslims' sufferings.

“He's just put forward the Christians' suffering and ignored the massacres suffered by the Turkish and Muslim people during World War I," Bilgiç said in a weekly press meeting at the foreign ministry in Ankara.

During a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday, April 12, which Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan also attended, the pontiff said: "In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies…The first, which is widely considered the first genocide of the 20th century, struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks and, more recently, there have been other mass killings, like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia."

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bilgiç stated that the pope used the "mass death" for internationally recognized "genocide" in Bosnia and Rwanda, but used the word "genocide" for the events of 1915, that was unrecognized as genocide by international courts, while he did not mention Muslims who lost their lives in Anatolia - not a bit. This is a huge contradiction.

Recalling the Pope's visit to Turkey in November 2014, Bilgiç said that he spoke very differently during that visit and wandered, “I don't understand this contradiction. It is very sad to turn it into a form of propaganda."

“That was an unfortunate statement that would not serve the peace between the different religions and cultures," he said.

While talking about the upcoming events of the 100th anniversary of the Victory of Gallipoli, a battle which marked a turnaround in favor of the Turks against the Allied Forces during World War I, that will be held on from March 23 to 25, Bilgiç said that about 80 countries would join the program, including 21 heads of state, 2 parliament leaders, 3 vice presidents, 5 prime ministers, 2 ex-presidents and 4 general secretaries of international organizations.