Erdogan: Macron a "political novice" over Armenian Genocide move

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, February 15 called French counterpart Emmanuel Macron a "political novice" over the announcement that France would hold a national day to commemorate the Armenian Genocide, AFP reports.

"I say to Macron -- you are still a political novice, first learn the history of your country," Erdogan said during an interview with the A-Haber television channel.

He went on to list all the countries which France had colonised and where, he said, massacres had taken place including Algeria, Indochina and Rwanda.

France was one of the first major European nations to recognise the mass killings as genocide. More than 20 other countries have followed suit.

Armenians commemorate the Genocide on April 24 -- the day in 1915 when thousands of Armenian intellectuals suspected of harbouring nationalist sentiment and being hostile to Ottoman rule were rounded up.

Earlier this month Macron announced that France, which has a substantial Armenian community, would hold a "national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide" on the same date.