Reaction mounts to Pope’s Armenian ‘genocide’ remarks

Pope Francis's remarks describing the mass deportation of Armenians from Anatolia in 1915 continue to makes waves in Turkey four days after he said that the deportation was the "first genocide of the 20th century" during a mass in the Vatican.

The pontiff's statement on a politically charged issue first drew the ire of leaders in Ankara. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the pope as a "politician," and condemned him in a Tuesday speech, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu blamed the pontiff for using "inappropriate" and "one-sided" language.

Turks took to social media to condemn the pope in tweets and posts but others took further action. Coşkun Işık from the western city of İzmir filed a lawsuit against the Argentinian pontiff on charges of "defamation and hate speech." Işık boasts that his is the first lawsuit from Turkey against the pope. Speaking to İhlas News Agency after he lodged a complaint at the chief prosecutor's office in İzmir, Işık said his remarks amounted to hate speech against Turks that he accused of carrying out genocide.

"(Leaders) condemned him, called him to retract his remarks but their statements were not responded to. So I decided to file a lawsuit. First of all, it is not the pope's duty to speak about this matter. Secondly, he defames Turks. This is hate speech. We never harbored hatred towards Armenians but the international community, thanks to the lobbying efforts of the Armenian diaspora, repeats (claims of genocide). I needed to do something about it and I decided to file a legal complaint against the pope," he said.

For Professor Mefail Hızlı, mufti of the capital Ankara, the pope deserves another kind of retaliation. Addressing fellow clerics at a meeting on Wednesday, Hızlı said the pontiff's remarks would only "accelerate the opening of Hagia Sophia to worship (for Muslims)." He was referring to the ancient landmark in Istanbul built as a basilica and converted into mosque after the Ottoman conquest, only to be converted into a museum in 1935. It is not a Catholic church, but it may draw the ire of the Christian community.

"The pope always conveys messages of peace and love, and he did so as well when he visited Turkey in November. Unfortunately, he made a hasty comment on a matter that should be tackled by historians. These unfortunate remarks focused on the pain of one side, while it has been proven that not only Armenians, but other people in Anatolia suffered 100 years ago. (The pope's remarks) are a modern reflection of the Crusades," Hızlı said.

Like the deportation of Armenians, the opening of the Hagia Sophia to Muslim worship is a controversial issue. Several conservative groups demand its reopening as a mosque, while secular groups insist that it should remain a museum. Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew had also opposed its conversion to a mosque, according to media reports.