Davutoglu 'Respectfully Remembers' Ottoman Armenians Who Lost Their Lives

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

On April 20, Ahmet Davutoglu, the Prime Minister of Turkey issued a statement just ahead of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, offering condolences to the descendants of Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks. He stopped short, however of using the term genocide AP reported.

"To reduce everything to a single word, to load all of the responsibility on the Turkish nation ... and to combine this with a discourse of hatred is legally and morally problematic," Davutoglu said.

According to the piece, Turkey is concerned that American President Barack Obama “may refer to the deaths as genocide on April 24.”

"We once again respectfully remember Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during the deportation of 1915 and share the pain of their children and grandchildren," Davutoglu said in his message. He said that Armenians and Turks should “heal their wounds from that century and re-establish their human relations.”

Regarding Davutoglu's statement, Aram Hamparian, the Executive Director of ANCA said: “Facing a global wave of Armenian Genocide recognition – from the Pope to the European Parliament – Turkey’s leaders are defiantly doubling down on denial. Prime Minister Davutoglu’s fake apology today grants no recognition, accepts no responsibility, expresses no regret, and offers no reparations.”

Last year on April 23, then Prime Minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement expressing condolences for the killings and describing them as “our shared pain.” It was the first ever that a Turkish leader had made such comments.

This past week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Turkey to come to terms with its past and recognize the Armenian Genocide. On April 12, Pope Francis held a Holy Mass for the faithful of the Armenian Rite at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, where he said that the mass slaughter of the Armenian people by Ottoman Turkey was “the first genocide of the 20th century.” On April 24, the German Bundestag will debate a draft resolution, which many believe will acknowledge the events as Genocide.

For the past century, Turkey has vehemently denied that the massacre of the Armenian people was a genocide.