ANKARA
Etyen Mahcupyan is no longer Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's chief adviser, prime ministry sources said Thursday.
Mahcupyan has been retired since March 9 because of old age, sources said. However, Davutoglu "could and would still benefit from his opinions as a valued intellectual," sources added.
The statement follows recent media reports that Mahcupyan welcomed Pope Francis' statement over 1915 incidents in Turkey, saying: "It is impossible not to call what was done to the Armenians in 1915 a genocide, when the incidents in Bosnia and Africa are recognized as such."
Last Sunday, Pope Francis had called the 1915 events that affected Armenians "the first genocide of the 20th century," which led Turkey to recall its ambassador to the Vatican and also summon the Vatican envoy in Ankara.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted on the centenary of the 1915 events to reconfirm a 1987 resolution in which it first recognized them as "genocide".
"It is not right for Mahcupyan to make those comments in the capacity of the prime minister's chief adviser. They are his personal opinions," Turkey's EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said during a televised interview in Ankara Thursday.
"Such opinions are not befitting for a Turkish citizen. Perhaps he will have the opportunity to review his words," he added.
The 1915 events took place during World War I when a portion of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the invading Russians and revolted against the empire.
The Ottoman Empire relocated Armenians in eastern Anatolia following the revolts and there were Armenian casualties during the process.
Armenia has demanded an apology and compensation, while Turkey has officially refuted Armenian allegations over the incidents saying that, although Armenians died during the relocations, many Turks also lost their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian gangs in Anatolia.
