Ceremonies mark Gallipoli, massacre of Armenians

Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan hosted leaders from the former Allied powers of World War I to pay tribute on Friday to the tens of thousands killed in the Battle of Gallipoli 100 years after one of the most wasteful yet emblematic campaigns of the conflict.

The same day, a Turkish government minister for the first time attended a Mass to mark the 1915 massacre of Armenians in Istanbul, then known as Constantinople.

"We respect the suffering of our Armenian brothers. That is why we have come to take part in this ceremony," European Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir told the press, as a message in Armenian and English from Erdogan was read to the congregation at a solemn ceremony in Istanbul.

The juxtaposition of the dates of the Armenian killings and Gallipoli campaign has aroused strong emotions, with Armenians accusing Turkey of shifting the main Gallipoli event forwards by one day from Saturday to Friday to deliberately overshadow ceremonies in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

In Yerevan, French President Francois Hollande told an audience that included Russian President Vladimir Putin and delegations from about 60 countries that Turkey should use "other words", referring to Ankara's refusal to recognize as genocide the Ottoman Empire's massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians. Turkey has said that the death toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest, not genocide.

On Saturday, the focus will be on the dawn services to remember the estimated 8,700 Australian and 2,800 New Zealand soldiers who lost their lives in a sacrifice that helped forge their national identity and is still remembered as ANZAC Day. Police in Australia vowed a heavy security presence in the wake of an alleged terror plot that was foiled a week ago.

AP - AFP - Xinhua

(China Daily 04/25/2015 page11)