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Turkey issued a harsh rebuttal late on Saturday to Pope Francis’ declaration upon arrival in Armenia that the 1915 slaughter by Turks was a planned genocide to exterminate Armenians, The Guardian  writes.

According to the source, Deputy prime minister, Nurettin Canikli called the comments “greatly unfortunate” and said they bore the hallmarks of the “mentality of the Crusades”. Canikli said the term “does not comply with the truth” and that “everyone knows that, including Armenians".

“Turkey rejects the use of the term genocide, saying the 1.5 million deaths cited by historians is an inflated figure and that people died on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed amid the First World War. When Francis first used it last year, Turkey withdrew its ambassador for 10 months and accused Francis of spreading lies,” The Guardian writes.

According to the source, Francis raised the importance of memory at an evening prayer in Yerevan’s Republic Square, which drew the largest crowds of his visit, around 50,000 according to Vatican estimates. With the patriarch of the Apostolic Church, Karekin II, by his side and President Serzh Sargsyan in the front row, Francis said even the greatest pain “can become a seed of peace for the future”.

As The Guardian writes, the Pope specifically called for Armenia and Turkey to take up the “path of reconciliation” and said: “May peace also spring forth in Nagorno-Karabakh”.