Turkey says Obama's 1915 comment is ‘one-sided'

Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that US President Barack Obama's comment on the 1915 incidents represented a "one-sided interpretation of history."

President Obama described the events of 1915 involving Armenians within the Ottoman Empire as "Meds Yeghern," an Armenian term meaning "great calamity" in a statement released on Friday.

In a written statement ,Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Obama's statement was a new example of a one-sided history telling of the "pain suffered during the World War I."

"Turkey has shown the will to build a joint future with peace based on the shared living experience for centuries between Turkish and Armenian nations. It is sad that friend and ally countries encourage the circle that [aim] to deepen the conflict instead of answering [Turkey's] call. It is obvious that the efforts to politicise the pain suffered in history do not do any good to anyone so far."

The relations between Turkey and Armenia are broken due to the tragic events of 1915. Many Armenians died during the war, as well as Turkish people. Armenians describe the events as so-called "genocide" while Turkey says both Turks and Armenians were killed.

In April 2015, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered his condolences to the grandchildren of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during the First World War, following same move by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In 2005, then Turkish prime minister now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially delivered his proposal to Armenia's then-President Robert Kocharian by sending a letter to establish a  joint commission to examine the developments and the events of 1915. 

President Erdogan also called for other countries to contribute to the process if they have information on the case. 

However, call for the other counties to contribute to find out what had happened during those years was not answered the way Ankara desired, Ankara has requested historical facts and proof by historians. 

Also, the Armenian side has not accepted Erdogan's call.

"While this is the situation, the circles that aim to profit from the positions that third-party countries would take on the different dates of the year not only harm the hope for friendship and peace but they also disrespect the pain suffered during those days," said the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Friday's statement.

"We invite the US government to evaluate the historical facts based on a fair memory while taking into consideration the pain of all sides and adopt an objective, reasonable and constructive approach."