Turkey recalls Vatican envoy after Pope's genocide comment
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press
Apr 12, 2015 11:17 AM CDT
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, center, arrives to attend an Armenian-Rite Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on the occasion of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, April 12, 2015. Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million...   (Associated Press)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Turkey's foreign ministry says it is recalling its ambassador to the Vatican after Pope Francis on Sunday called the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks "the first genocide of the 20th century."

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said that the Turkish people would not recognize the Pope's statement "which is controversial in every aspect, which is based on prejudice, which distorts history and reduces the pains suffered in Anatolia under the conditions of the First World War to members of just one religion."

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