Erdogan surprises with condolence message to Armenians - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrives during a ceremony at the Constitutional Court in Ankara April 22, 2010. Armenia's ruling coalition on Thursday said it had decided to freeze the ratification in parliament of accords with Turkey aimed at normalising ties between the historic foes. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2D3ZW

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Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrives during a ceremony at the Constitutional Court in Ankara April 22, 2010. Armenia's ruling coalition on Thursday said it had decided to freeze the ratification in parliament of accords with Turkey aimed at normalising ties between the historic foes. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2D3ZW

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Activists hold pictures of Armenian victims during a demonstration to commemorate the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, in Istanbul April 24, 2014. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan offered on Wednesday what the government said were unprecedented condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians killed in World War One by Ottoman soldiers. In a statement issued on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the deeply contested deaths, Erdogan unexpectedly described the events of 1915 as "inhuman

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Human rights activists hold pictures of Armenian victims in front of the historical Haydarpasa station in Istanbul April 24, 2010, during a demonstration to commemorate the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Muslim Turkey accepts many Christian Armenians died in partisan fighting beginning in 1915 but denies that up to 1.5 million were killed and that it amounted to genocide, a term used by some Western historians and foreign parliaments. Banner reads "Never again". REUTERS/ Osman Orsal

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U.S. President Barack Obama pauses during remarks at a reception for supporters of H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington April 21, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst - RTX19Q1Z

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Presidents Serzh Sarksyan of Armenia (L) and Abdullah Gul of Turkey listen to the national anthems prior the World Cup 2010 qualifying soccer match betwwen Turkey and Armenia at Ataturk stadium in Bursa, western Turkey, October 14, 2009. The presidents of Turkey and Armenia attended a World Cup soccer match courting popular support for an agreement to reopen their border and restore ties poisoned over a century of mutual hostility. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY POLITICS SPORT SOCCER) - RTXPMWS

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