{"id":183006,"date":"2015-04-13T18:42:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T23:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2015\/04\/13\/recep-tayyip-erdogan-have-a-nice-big-cup-of-stfu\/"},"modified":"2015-04-13T18:42:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T23:42:00","slug":"recep-tayyip-erdogan-have-a-nice-big-cup-of-stfu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2015\/04\/13\/recep-tayyip-erdogan-have-a-nice-big-cup-of-stfu\/","title":{"rendered":"Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, Have a Nice, Big Cup of STFU!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>The Armenian Genocide is a fact.  It has been documented extensively.<\/p>\n

So it is no surprise that Pope Francis noted this on the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of this atrocity.<\/p>\n

Of course the predictable Turkish butt-hurt<\/a> is also no surprise.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

When Pope Francis used the term \u201cgenocide\u201d on Sunday to describe the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago, he was not breaking new ground. Pope John Paul II had written the same in 2001, and Francis had made similar references before.<\/span>

<\/span> But the timing and setting of the pope\u2019s remarks \u2014 a Mass at St. Peter\u2019s Basilica marking the centenary of the killings, with top Armenian religious and political leaders in attendance \u2014 drew a strong international response. Armenians worldwide expressed deep gratitude to Francis, while Turkey reacted in anger.<\/span>

<\/span> \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span> The Turkish government responded to the pope\u2019s comments by recalling its ambassador to the Vatican, and summoned the Vatican\u2019s ambassador in Ankara to express its \u201cgreat disappointment and sadness.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span> Turkey claims that just half a million Armenians died in fighting when they rose up against their Ottoman rulers during World War I, and denies that their deaths constitute an act of genocide.<\/span>

<\/span> That position conflicts with the views of most historians of the period, who agree that as many as 1.5 million Armenians were victims of genocide at the hands of the Turks.<\/span>

<\/span> \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span> Francis said it was \u201cnecessary, and indeed a duty,\u201d to remember the Armenians killed, \u201cfor whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!\u201d<\/span>

<\/span> Among those listening at St. Peter\u2019s were Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church, including Karekin II and Aram I, the two Catholicoi at the top of the church\u2019s hierarchy.<\/span>

<\/span> \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span> Turkey said Francis\u2019 comments \u201ccontradicted his message of peace, reconciliation and dialogue\u201d made during his visit to the country in November.<\/span>

<\/span> \u201cThe pope\u2019s statement, which is far from the legal and historical reality, cannot be accepted,\u201d Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted on Sunday.<\/span>

<\/span> \u201cReligious authorities are not the places to incite resentment and hatred with baseless allegations,\u201d he added.<\/span>

<\/span> Francis now risks losing Turkey\u2019s support as he seeks to defend Christian communities being persecuted by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Many Christians have sought refuge in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, as they have fled the Islamist militants.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does anyone hear this statement, and interpret it as saying, “Nice Christians, you have there, it would be a shame if anything happened to them.”<\/p>\n

I do understand that the Turks have made a habit of denying the Armenian Genocide, which has never made much sense to me, since the government that did it, the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist almost a century ago.<\/p>\n

I do<\/b> understand why Erdo\u011fan’s government is determined to whitewash this though.  It is very clear that his AKP party is trying to relegate the reforms of tye Young Turks and Ataturk to the dust-bin of history. <\/p>\n

That is why the plans to redevelop Taksim square included the rebuilding of the Taksim Military Barracks, which was a central symbol of the attempted Ottoman counter coup in 1909.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Armenian Genocide is a fact.  It has been documented extensively. So it is no surprise that Pope Francis noted this on the 100th anniversary of this atrocity. Of course the predictable Turkish butt-hurt is also no surprise. \u2026\u2026\u2026 When Pope Francis used the term \u201cgenocide\u201d on Sunday to describe the massacre of Armenians by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[969,1115,1099,978,1021,979,1098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evil","category-genocide","category-near-east","category-politics","category-religion","category-wanker","category-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183006"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}