( CNN ) Pope Francis risked Turkish anger on Sunday by using the word `` genocide '' to refer to the mass killings of Armenians a century ago under the Ottoman Empire . `` In the past century , our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies , '' the Pope said at a Mass at St. Peter 's Basilica to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian massacres . `` The first , which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century , ' struck your own Armenian people , '' he said , referencing a 2001 declaration by Pope John Paul II and the head of the Armenian church . His use of the term genocide -- even though he was quoting from the declaration -- upset Turkey . The nation recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for `` consultations '' just hours after Francis ' comments , the Turkish Foreign Ministry said . Earlier , Turkey summoned the ambassador from the Vatican for a meeting , Turkish state broadcaster TRT reported . Turkey 's former ambassador to the Vatican , Kenan Gursoy , told CNN in a telephone interview that while it is the first time Turkey has summoned its ambassador home from the Vatican , `` This does not mean that our diplomatic ties with the Vatican are over . '' `` Since this is a situation that we do not approve of , as a first reaction , ( the ambassador ) is summoned to get consultation , '' Gursoy said , adding that the Pope 's use of the word `` genocide '' was `` a one-sided evaluation . '' In a tweet Sunday on his official account , Turkey 's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the Pope 's use of the word `` unacceptable '' and `` out of touch with both historical facts and legal basis . '' `` Religious offices are not places through which hatred and animosity are fueled by unfounded allegations , '' the tweet reads . This consternation over the use of the word 'genocide ' occurs regularly . And Armenians are equally upset , when Turkey protests it . Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian rebuked Turkey . `` We are in a situation in which Turkey speaks a different language from the rest of the international community and it seems that it does n't understand that it is speaking a different language , '' he said to Italian News Agency Adnkronos . `` During these past days there have been several international organizations that adopt resolutions or issue statements that recognize the Armenian genocide and that appeal to Turkey to make this step , '' he said . `` The Pope 's statement are in this context of universal value . When Turkey is able to understand this , it will be able to understand what the International community and big personalities ( or better translations 'leaders ' ) are saying . '' Armenian groups and many scholars say that Turks planned and carried out genocide , starting in 1915 , when more than a million ethnic Armenians were massacred in the final years of the Ottoman Empire . Turkey officially denies that a genocide took place , saying hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims died in intercommunal violence around the bloody battlefields of World War I . The Armenian government and influential Armenian diaspora groups have urged countries around the world to formally label the 1915 events as genocide . Turkey has responded with pressure of its own against such moves . Pope Francis said Sunday that `` Catholic and Orthodox Syrians , Assyrians , Chaldeans and Greeks '' were also killed in the bloodshed a century ago . He said Nazism and Stalinism were responsible for the other two `` massive and unprecedented tragedies '' of the past century . CNN 's Gul Tuysuz in Turkey , Nimet Kirac and Karen Smith in Atlanta contributed to this report .
Former Turkish ambassador to the uk calls use of the phrase ` ` genocide '' a ` ` one - sided evaluation '' Pope discusses massacres of over a decade after they took place . turkey denies the mass killings constituted a genocide .