Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for consultations after Pope Francis called the Armenian massacres “the first genocide of the twentieth century”, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry reported.

Earlier the ambassador of the Vatican in Ankara has been called to the Foreign Ministry.

Ankara was angered by the speech of Pope Francis during the Holy Mass on Sunday. The pontiff pointed at three greatest tragedies of the past century, and the first was genocide perpetrated against Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire. The second two were Nazism and Stalinism.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the clergy must not make unfounded claims that incite hatred and enmity.