Turkey Allows Mass at Ancient Armenian Church But Sows Anger
For the first time in nearly a century, Turkey will allow a Mass at a 10th-century Armenian Orthodox cathedral in eastern Turkey, but the state's failure to restore a cross atop the building has soured the occasion for many Armenians.
Some 5,000 members of the Armenian diaspora are expected to descend upon tiny Akdamar Island on Lake Van for Sunday's Mass. The Turkish government has portrayed the event as a gesture of religious tolerance and rapprochement with Armenia, which is at odds with Turkey over the classification of massacres carried out by Ottoman forces in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Armenians claim Turks killed up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917 in a deliberate attempt to eradicate them as an ethnic minority. Countries including France, Russia and Greece have recognized the genocide, while the U.S. and Britain have not, in line with Turkey's position that the deaths were part of the events of World War I. Ankara acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but says the deaths did not constitute genocide. It accuses the Armenian population of working with foreign powers to try to bring down the Ottoman Empire....
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Some 5,000 members of the Armenian diaspora are expected to descend upon tiny Akdamar Island on Lake Van for Sunday's Mass. The Turkish government has portrayed the event as a gesture of religious tolerance and rapprochement with Armenia, which is at odds with Turkey over the classification of massacres carried out by Ottoman forces in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Armenians claim Turks killed up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917 in a deliberate attempt to eradicate them as an ethnic minority. Countries including France, Russia and Greece have recognized the genocide, while the U.S. and Britain have not, in line with Turkey's position that the deaths were part of the events of World War I. Ankara acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but says the deaths did not constitute genocide. It accuses the Armenian population of working with foreign powers to try to bring down the Ottoman Empire....