Ankara envoy summoned over Obama's "great atrocity" Armenia comment

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US Ambassador in Ankara James Jeffrey has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry where he listened to criticism over a Friday statement by President Barack Obama commemorating Armenians killed in the last days of the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia, officials said yesterday.

Obama refrained from using the word genocide in his traditional message, in order not to harm a process of reconciliation ongoing between Turkey and Armenia, but called the events "one of the great atrocities of the 20th century" and used the Armenian phrase "Meds Yeghern" used to describe the events twice throughout the text. The term is commonly translated as "Big Calamity" and some analysts commented that using it was identical to using the word "genocide."

Turkish leaders objected to Obama's statement, with President Abdullah Gül insisting the Turks, who perished at the hand of rioting Armenians should also be remembered and the Foreign Ministry, in a weekend statement, saying the statement's perception of history was "unacceptable" and appealing for an impartial study of the history.

Jeffrey was summoned to the Foreign Ministry headquarters on Saturday but no official protest has been conveyed. Turkish officials expressed "views, comments, assessments as well as the reaction" of Turkey during the meeting, officials said. Ankara denies claims that Armenians were subject to genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire and says the killings occurred when Ottoman Empire tried to quell an Armenian revolt in cooperation with Russian forces then invading the eastern Anatolia.