Russia knows genocide well, Turkey fires back

Turkey said on April 24 that it rejected and condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin calling the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a "genocide." 

"Taking into account the mass atrocities and exiles in Caucasus, in the Central Asia and Eastern Europe committed by Russia for a century; collective punishment methods such as Holodomor as well as inhumane practices especially against Turkish and Muslim people in Russia's own history, we consider that Russia is best-suited to know what exactly "genocide" and its legal dimension are," a foreign ministry statement said.

Turkey also condemned Duma's April 24 resolution that described the 1915 events as "genocide." 

"The only thing that Russia can do in this issue is to leave its biased attitude aside and encourage Armenia and the Armenians to respond positively to the calls of Turkey for peace and friendship," the statement added.

Turkey denies that the killings, at a time when Turkish troops were fighting Russian forces during World War I, constituted genocide. It has said there was no organized campaign to wipe out Armenians and no evidence of any such orders from Ottoman authorities.

Turkey's ambassador to the Vatican was summoned to Ankara for consultations on April 12, hours after Pope Francis called the 1915 incidents involving Armenians "genocide."

Austria was subjected to a similar reaction by Ankara, as Turkey recalled its ambassador in Vienna on April 22 after parties represented in the Austrian parliament signed a declaration recognizing the massacre of Armenians a century ago as "genocide."

However, Turkey initially avoided any harsh reaction toward Putin and French President François Hollande, after they described the killings as ...