Turkey blasts Macron

ANKARA: Turkey yesterday hit out at President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France would make April 24 a “national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide”. “We condemn and reject attempts by Macron, who is afflicted by political problems in his own country, to try and save the day by turning historical events into a political matter,” Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in a statement after the French leader’s announcement on Tuesday. Macron said Tuesday: “France is, first and foremost, the country that knows how to look history in the face,” during a speech to the Armenian community at a dinner in Paris. Turkey and Armenia have long been at odds over the treatment of Armenians during World War I. Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed during the war. — AFP