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ANKARA — A nationalist Turkish leader is saying he can't "tolerate the U.S. president's lack of courtesy" in calling on Turkey to reckon with its past, resolve its dispute with neighbor Armenia and reopen their shared border.
Devlet Bahceli was reacting Tuesday to President Barack Obama's call for reconciliation with Armenia over the widespread killings of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Bahceli's comments underline the difficulties in overcoming decades of antagonism with Armenia rooted in the WWI-era killings that began in 1915.
Obama steered clear of the term "genocide" when he addressed Turkish lawmakers Monday about the bloodshed. Turkey rejects the widely held view that there was a systematic campaign to wipe out the Armenian population.
