"Pontus genocide monument overshadows relations between Turkey and Greece: Turkish FM
The Pontus genocide monument unveiled in Greek city of Thessalonica has overshadowed friendly relations between Turkey and Greece, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday.
In an interview with the semi-official Anatolia news agency, Gul decribed as a right decision made by the mayor of Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir, Aziz Kocaoglu, not to sign a sister city protocol between Izmir and Thessalonica in protest of the erection of such a monument.
Greece claims that during 1916-1923 the Greek Orthodox population in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey became the victim of a systematic extermination by the Turkish authorities."
More:People's Daily Online -- Pontus genocide monument overshadows relations between Turkey and Greece: Turkish FM
