Vatican Archives Officer Monsignor Sergio Pagano was interviewed by Turkish Vatan newspaper immediately after he stated Vatican will publish a compilation of secret archie documents and information on Armenian Genocide.

Monsignor Sergio Pagano stressed that back in 1896 the then Pope Leo XIII called on sultan to show sympathy and stop the Genocide.

Pagano said that the documents and information about the Armenian Genocide from Vatican’s secret archives will be published in a separate book. He cited several stories from the documents.

An eyewitness from Erzurum said, “I saw how numerous children were killed. My niece ran away from home with a 2-year-old child on her shoulders, but she was shot. When she fell on the ground two soldiers came to her and killed her. I saw the killing of our city’s spiritual leader. They gouged out his eyes, pulled his beard. Before killing him, the soldiers forced him to dance.”

Another story was told by Turkish soldier named Mustafa Suleyman, “We entered the Armenian villages and killed them all, without regard to gender and age. Kurds who came with us robbed Armenian houses. Many old Armenians, disabled people were hiding in a school located in the center of the city, but we had an order and killed them. Eight hundred Armenians were killed and burnt in Geliguzan village. They gouged out eyes of priest, Fr. Hovhannes, his beard, nose and ears were cut off. I have not killed a single child, even saved two of them. I was hiding them in my tent but once I went in and saw their bodies dismembered.”

Under the orders of bloody Sultan Abdul Hamid over 300,000 Armenians were killed in 1894-1896.