Turkey angered by pope's use of 'G-word’

Cengiz Çandar 

Less than two weeks before the centennial of the Armenian genocide, the leader of the world's billion Catholics made remarks that shocked the Turkish government and gave a dramatic boost to those who believe genocide was committed in 1915. 

Pope Francis offered the comments during his April 12 sermon at St. Peter’s Basilica, attended by Armenian dignitaries including Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Catholicos Karekin II, the highest religious authority of the Armenian Apostolic Church. “The first, which is widely considered the first genocide of the 20th century, struck your own Armenian people. Bishops and priests, religious women and men, the elderly and even defenseless children and infirm were murdered,” he said.

Turkey: Free Passage to al-Qaeda and Internal Unrest

On September 16, 2012, in letters to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said Turkey allowed “thousands of al-Qaida, Takfiri and Wahhabi terrorists” access to the country in order to “kill innocent Syrians, blow up their properties and spread chaos and destruction,” reported Associated Press.