YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Etyen Mahçupyan, the chief advisor of the Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoğlu, has been dismissed from the advisor’s position. Currently he occupies the position of Davutoğlu’s honorary advisor. As reports “Armenpress”, the Turkish Hurriyet periodical stated about this.

Etyen Mahçupyan, the first Turkish Armenian to be a prime ministerial adviser, is no longer in the post due to legal restrictions on age, the Hürriyet daily's website, quoting Mahçupyan, said. He said he was “automatically” removed from the post when he turned 65 on March 9 but that he continues his job on an “honorary” basis.

“I am currently abroad and I continue my work [as a prime ministerial adviser]. The only difference is that I no longer get paid,” he told Hürriyet.

Previously it was reported that Armenian-Turkish intellectual Etyen Mahcupyan once again has told in his interview that what happened to the Armenians was a genocide. As “Armenpress” reports, citing T24.com.tr, Mahcupyan reflected on the Pope’s statement and noted: "Vatican has thrown off itself the psychological burden of 100 years. When you say, why this word was used 100 years later, one should approach the issue from the opposite side and say, how has Vatican withstood for so many years saying nothing."

Davutoglu’s Armenian advisor stressed that one should not look for any political context in Pope's words, adding: “The word “genocide", besides being a political term, has started to get more psychological significance for both the Armenians and foreigners.”

Among other things, Mahcupyan noted that when they call the events of Bosnia and Africa genocides, it is impossible not to call the Armenian massacres of 1915 a “genocide”. “Facing with what had happened and taking lesson to build the future together is of a certain significance. Otherwise, the term has no importance. The important thing is that those, who live here today, could understand each other," he emphasized.