After Pope Francis labelled the 1915 incidents – which Turkey describes as a mass forced deportation of Armenians from Anatolia during World War I – as "genocide," the Vatican has made its first official comment on Turkey's response to the pontiff's "unacceptable and politically motivated" remarks.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi said, "We take Turks' concerns into consideration, but we have no intention of turning this into a polemic."

The Vatican spokesman claimed that the Pope's remarks led Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to form a joint commission to look into genocide claims, and added that this was an "interesting step."

Following his words, journalists present at the press conference reminded him that President Erdoğan's call for historians to examine the archives is nothing new, and that he has repeated this call since he came into power.