ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir will attend a liturgy at an Armenian church in Istanbul commemorating the victims of the Armenian genocide, the ministry said Thursday.
The liturgy will be served in St. Mary Armenian Church of Istanbul on Friday.
"For the first time in history, this event will be attended by an official representative of the Turkish government — minister Volkan Bozkir," the ministry said in a statement.
Despite the campaign to acknowledge the deaths as genocide, Turkish officials say both Turks and Armenians died as part of the battle during World War One.
The issue of acknowledging the atrocities has been an issue of political tension for Turkey, as more than 20 countries have formally recognized the attacks as genocide.
