An Armenian Catholic bishop from Egypt, Krikor-Okosdinos Coussa of Alexandria, has called on Turkey to accept that the World War I killings of many hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians were genocide.Successive Turkish governments have refused to do so, arguing atrocities took place on both sides, and that Muslims also died.
"In 1915, the Ottomans ... killed the Armenian people in Greater Armenia and Lesser Armenia (Turkey). One and a half million people perished during this genocide," Coussa told a synod of African bishops taking place in Rome.
The killings drove the Armenians from Turkey to the Middle East and throughout the world, he noted.
"The leaders of the Armenian State and the heads of the Armenian Churches (Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical) are performing an act of public pardon towards the Turks.
"We do so while appealing to the Turks to recognise the genocide, to pay homage to the martyrs and to grant Armenians their civil, political and religious rights," Coussa said.
In an apparent reference to a landmark agreement signed last weekend between Turkey and Armenia normalising ties and ending a century of hostility, Coussa stated: "The path of reconciliation between the two States has begun."
Many Armenians have protested the accord, saying it does not fully address the 1915 killings.
The agreement calls for a joint commission of independent historians to study the genocide issue. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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SIC: AKI