Erdogan: Turkey must suffer Armenian pain

istanbul - Turkey has 'the duty to share the suffering suffered by the Armenians in the events of 1915'. Turkish president Erdogan said this in a statement that was circulated on Tuesday on the day of the commemoration of the Armenian genocide. It was set in motion on 24 April 1915 in the former capital of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul.

According to Erdogan, it is 'a careful and ethical responsibility to share the historical pain of our Armenian citizens'. Erdogan's statement was read on Tuesday in Armenian and Turkish in the Armenian church in Istanbul.

He conveyed his condolences 'to the Armenian community and to the Turkish nation that at that time lost millions of lives in the Ottoman Empire due to wars, popular displacements, conflicts and diseases'.